To bid or not to bid, I believe that was the question.
By participating in this discussion, I hoped to provide feel76 with a checklist whereby he could question the eBay seller:
1. By what method are the numbers sewn to the cover?
2. Are the attachment hooks brass?
3. Is the spike cover reinforced with a leather buffer?
4. What is the nature of the
Hinterschiene vent?
5. Is the cloth a weave of multicolored thread?
I used my IR 15 cover as a starting point because I know it to be original. The material, pattern, and construction match issued FR 73 and Felda.R 34 Helmbezüge in my collection.
Granted, even had this criteria been met, the authenticity of the Helmbezug could not be guaranteed until the cover could be judged in a side by side comparison with a known original, or, at the very least, subjected to a black light test.
joerookery said:
But what is the real killer in my mind and my mind only is that the AKO 28 January 1897 does not say this. Here is what it says. I have the entire AKO. There is no specification of cloth, fabric or paint.
Joe:
With all due respect, I see no "smoking gun" here. My rough translation of the underlined section of the AKO states:
...Number in accordance to the ratified Proben. Jürgen Kraus provides photographic evidence of two such Proben Helmbezüge (unfortunately, the submission dates are not visible) on page 61 of
The German Army in the First World War - Uniforms and Equipment - 1914 to 1918. My line of reasoning would be that if an AKO stipulated the numbers on a helmet cover match those of the approved trial specimen, and the numbers on that ratified trial specimen are red felt, then the numbers authorized by the AKO are also red felt.
Chas.