Post Your Ersatz Oddities Here

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Anonymous

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Since the subject of Ersatz helmets has been a hot one lately, I thought it might be useful to start a thread in which we could examine the endless variants that keep us on our toes. To start the ball rolling, this Baden Ersatz Filz was one of the first helmets in my collection.

KICX0210.jpg


As you can see, the helm has visor trim but no rear spine. The chinstrap is extemely thin leather and has a grain like texture.

KICX0214.jpg


Either by hook or by crook, the brads securing the spike base are not exactly according to specification.

KICX0215.jpg


The kicker. Look at how the Baden Wappen is attached; one prong per hole.

KICX0216.jpg


Chas.
 
Ok Chas, here you are my felt helmets. Let me know if you need more pics:

http://pickelmax.monsite.wanadoo.fr/page6.html

Maxime
 
Hi Chas,

Thanks to Otto for his explanation about how to add a picture. Here you are my three felt helmets:





 
Bonjour Maxime:

Thank you for sharing your pictures. Is there anything out of the ordinary regarding the method for attaching Wappen, etc.?

The Ersatz Filz with the M15 fittings is very interesting. I see the Knopf 91 are reinforced (just as with a leather helmet). Are any of the helmets marked inside?

Best regards,

Chas.
 
Joe-

thanks for posting the picture of my interesting plate connector, saves me the time of trying to do it!

Your picture #2

James
 
Beautiful helmet and photo Chas. And I very much like Maxime's Ersatz repair job with the front M15 visor and trim. Excellent! And of course, I have been trying to talk Brian out of his felt spine example for years. :cry:

Here is a contribution, a quite rare Sachsen MG Abteilung Nr. 8 Ersatz Filz-Tschako.

fgh43.jpg


What makes it very interesting, is that this manufacturer folded and sewed the edge around the entre helmet. My friend Peter Whamond scored a Filz Pickelhaube from this same manufacturer made the identical way.

fgh43e.jpg


And a close-up.

fgh43c.jpg


A photo of a Bayern example from (probably) the same manufacturer is on page 113 of Seibold, W. & Schulz, M. (1999) Die Helme der Königlich Bayerischen Armee 1806 - 1918. Bayerischer Militar Verlag - Gerd M. Schulz, Gröbenzell.
 
Hi Tony:

Ah, yes, I remember it well. You are one of the few to own an authentic Filz Tschako, and a Sachsen to boot.

Oh, lucky man.

Chas.
 
Sadly, :cry: I have this no more. I traded it to Peter for the Filz Preußen Tschapka which is now proudly on my Ersatz reference Page.

http://www.kaisersbunker.com/pt/ersatz.htm

But, that does not mean I do not still have an original Filz Tschako! :roll:
 
Fantastic Tschapka! I think I would have done the same. Peter certainly finds quality stuff. Please let me know if he wants to move the Sachsen someday.

Chas.
 
joerookery said:
These were created from the get go, not just as a repair.
Click to expand...

Hi Joe:

Although I agree with you (Mike's helmet certainly qualifies) I don't think Maxime's helmet was purpose built. How does one explain an integral Filz Nackenschirm with a Leder Vorderschirm? Even by Ersatz standards, it pushes the envelope.

Only the Shadow knows,

Chas.
 
Hi Joe:

I hope, when Maxime picks up the thread, he will post close-up details of the inside of the Filz where the front visor is attached.

Thanks for posting the pictures. That Filz with the fiber visors is cool. Would you happen to know if those are brads, rivets, or snaps securing the visor?

Chas.
 
It appears that on the blackened Filz that Joe posted, the vertical portion along the top edge of the visor where it was sewn, is missing? :?: Like it was cut-off? Then it looks like it was tacked on the sides with brads and possibly a rivet in the center. Very interesting.

On Maxime's, a one-piece pressed Filz helmet with a smashed visor, would have to have the visor cut-off to be replaced with an M15 one at a repair depot. I can think of no other way to repair a one-piece pressed Filz. I would like very much to find a combo example like that. very nice!
 
I have never actually handled a Fiber Ersatz example. Is this yours Joe?

In keeping with the "oddity" theme, here is one that caught me off-guard, a cloth liner in a Filz Ersatz Tschako. This is the same Ersatz leather-cloth found very often in visor caps. I probably have a dozen caps here with Ersatz leather-cloth liners. I believe it is called Alkor? Can't remember just now... However, I have never seen a leather-cloth liner in a Pickelhaube before!

fgh44b.jpg
 
Tony,

No this one is not mine but belongs to a friend. I am waiting for a picture to arrive, and I will post a real weird one. This is a great thread! Your wappen thread is great too! We're all back on the learning trail.

I now think I have my arms around "chemically darkened.". I will try to write something up and post it here shortly. I do not have a picture of one of them there spraying machines. I've looked in so many newspapers recently my head hurts.
 
The photo of the ersatz straw hat is interesting. As you may know the straw hats were supposedly developed for use by German troops in China during the Boxer Rebellion, with the multi-national relief force commanded by Field Marshall Count von Waldersee. However, there are some photos showing them in use in Southwest Africa on or before that date. I have a photo (which I can't lay my hands on at the moment) which shows the straw hat also used in Macedonia around 1917. I guess there were enough of these things laying around and they came to good use during WWI. Phil
 
How about shrapnel damage to the spike on an Ersatz, with the shrapnel still in place, imbedded into the brass.
Here is the entire helmet.>>

http://www.kaisersbunker.com/feldgrau/helmets/fgh06.htm

fgh06d.jpg
 
I have been hot on the trail of trying to figure out this cork helmet which sold in the last Kube auction. As luck would have it we know who bought it! (No it was not me)
Lx1.jpg

This new picture has an Uberzug, and a collar identification, that will give me some new ideas to chase. I would say these are oddities.
LxLandwehr34.jpg
 
I do not have a photo. However I have an otherwise standard M15 Prussian that has early plastic visors front and back. the plastic is red and is painted black. To affix them to the helmet oversize holes for stitching have been drilled and then they are sewn on in the standard way. This helmet has been together forever and I have owned it for about 15 years. I do not know if this is considered an ersatz or a repaired helmet, but have any of you ever seen this before?
Dan Murphy
 
I have seen this before Chas, both the narrow split brad legs and prongs for the back of the wappen. I have never seen just one prong but my JR119 OYV helmet has 2 prongs bent back in each hole. The prongs on my wappen are the typical width one would find on the normal split brad.
Regards, Brian
 
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