Preußen Dragoner

Lost Skeleton

Well-known member
I saw this on eBay recently and fell in love with the pristine Wappen. The rest of the helmet is quite nice too.

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If the date "98" on the Neuman label is to be believed, the chinscales are most unusual as they are magnetic. Traces of rust are present on the plates closest to the ends, and I believe the scales to be steel.

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Chas.
 
Lost Skeleton said:
the chinscales are most unusual as they are magnetic. Traces of rust are present on the plates closest to the ends, and I believe the scales to be steel.
Now THAT is interesting. This is something I have thought for some time, that manufacturer's used what they wanted; as long as it was mercury gilded and looked good, who cares?

Oh, stunning helmet, yadda yadda, (what else would I expect from you?)
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you have such a good eye for quality. Would not expect less. (You reading this Greg?)
 
Thank you one and all for the kind words. It's always gratifying to have one's appreciation for something shared by many pairs of discriminating eyes.

The chinscales are a genuine puzzle; reservist1 and I have been exchanging e-mail and pictures in an attempt to figure them out. Because of the round stud and keyhole closure, we first discussed whether they might actually be pre-1891 Mannschaften scales, as the majority of officer helmets in our respective collections feature a locking oval latch/hole attachment; however, this would not explain a ferrous base metal.

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I then experimented with the scales to determine whether the strong magnetic attraction was generated by the backing staples alone. What I eventually determined was, counting from the left Rosette scale backwards, the first ten links (or, Ketten) are gilded brass, the remaining five are ferrous, and the left connector link is gilded brass. For the right scale, the first eleven scales are gilded brass, the remaining four are ferrous, and the right connector is gilded brass.

On a wartime helmet, we often seen brass and zinc scales interspersed, but zinc is non-magnetic and does not rust. I believe the nine ferrous links are steel. However, the date on the helmet maker's tag is 1898. Discounting the corrosion, the ferrous scales match the brass in mils, finish, gilding, and taper.

Why steel?

Though purely speculative, I believe the chinscales were purposely made this way for added strength. Any dragoon would make functional use of the scales when mounted, and those links curving around the jaw line would be most susceptible to stress and flexing. Perhaps steel was employed as a countermeasure for metal fatigue at this vulnerable point. Certainly, the chinscales on this helmet remain much tighter than many examples I have seen.

Left scale chinstrap:

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Right scale chinstrap buckle:

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Brass scale overlapping steel:

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Chas.
 
Again Chas, a great helmet to add to your collection. I would like to make a comment about the sweat band. The extra points on the scalloped edges are not common. I have seen this before and I have one officer helmet in my collection with this characteristic. In my experience, they are found on sweat bands with a darker brown colour and more of a "pebbled" finish on the leather. To my mind, this would be associated with a helme of extra quality and thus a higher price. In my experience these sweat bands are also of a slightly thicker gauge of leather than the standard once again...better quality. The silk bag appears to be a grey/greenish colour on my screen which again is not standard. Brian
 
Hi Brian:

Under incandescent light the headliner looks like a slate blue. In natural light, it looks more like sea foam green.

Speaking of dragoon helmets, I'd love to see a nice, big picture of your Oldenburg. [-o<

It's far too nice to limit to your avatar.

Chas.
 
Lost Skeleton said:
// Brass scale overlapping steel //

Check this out. This is my Model 1871 Württemberg Landjäger Korp Mannschaften (Other Ranks) Pickelhaube.

On the right side (when looking at it head on) scales 1 and 2 (from the back) are steel. On the left side, scales 1, 2, and 9 (half way) are steel. It makes absolutely zero sense. However, when the helmet was new, and they were gilded.... who could tell? I had a very critical look, in my opinion, these have never been touched or taken apart..... More pics HERE

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Uniform and Pickelhaube from a Oberlandjäger in the area from the Kingdom of Württemberg! Top Codition!
 

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Welcome 336 great to have you join us. Congratulations on this set, fantastic condition! Thanks for posting these photos.
 
There is another Landjäger in my Office! I work as a Policechief in Baden-Württemberg in the near Stuttgart
 

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The next Uniform! Ist is a Landjäger from Württemberg from 1919-1936
 

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More pictures!
 

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