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.
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:
Right scale chinstrap buckle:
Brass scale overlapping steel:
Chas.