Preussen Ersatz Filzhaube

V

vonkluck14

Member
Gents,

I wasn't looking for a Filzhaube, as I am not that fond of them. To me they have something un-martial, even pityfull..the symbol of the degeneration of the german war industry.. the next level would be one made of a newspaper with a spike on it..

This one appeared to be for sale in a town about 20 km from were I live. As the vendor had a few Haubes for sale, I decided to have a look at them. This Filzhaube appeared to be in perfect shape, with a fine patina on the metal parts. The liner is stitched as it should be, and in one piece. It came with the Kokardes, but without the chinstraps. It 'caught' me in a way, an as the price was more then o.k. I went for it!

I added chinstraps with more or less the same patina. I think they match nicely, allthough the metal parts are not of iron. I have one question on the rear spine were I would appreciate your input. As you can see, the spine is too short, and there is no ventilation hole in the Haube, so the ventilation had no effect what so ever. I am not for 100% sure whether the spine belongs on this helmet. I could remove it, but it would leave markings on the rear. Whats your opinion?

best regards,

Marcel




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I think the spike and spine might come from an other helmet ,the helmet looks too crisp
compared with dose metal parts , the wappen looks OK ,it blends in nicely with the shape of the helmet.

I wonder where you bought this … :-k
 
I've slightly lifted the base of the spike, it belongs to this helmet.

BTW I´ve bought it in the Netherlands Spiker, from a honest guy who is mostly into WW II helmets!

Regards
Marcel
 
It looks OK to me too however, the question raised by Marcel remains as to why there's a ventilation lug on the spine and no ventilation hole underneath? :-k
 
And the fact that the spine is too short Ron! I wonder whether war time helmets like those sometimes were issued with what ever parts were in stock at the Bekleidungsamt, so tollerances as these were acceptable?

Apart from the missing hole for ventilation purposes, the rear spine helped to improve the stiffness of the helmet..

regards

Marcel
 
vonkluck14 said:
And the fact that the spine is too short Ron! I wonder whether war time helmets like those sometimes were issued with what ever parts were in stock at the Bekleidungsamt, so tollerances as these were acceptable?

Apart from the missing hole for ventilation purposes, the rear spine helped to improve the stiffness of the helmet..

regards

Marcel
Click to expand...

Sounds right.

:D Ron
 
At first sight it looks ok, but imo it's a helmet that was put together...
These are the reasons of my thinking:
1) the spine is to short and doesn't belong to the helmet. Not even with wishfull thinking about tolerances...
2) there is no dust build between the spike base and the helmet at all
3) the spike base has been moved a little, the imprint of the previous position is still visible in the fifth pic...
4) the helmet plate was rusted on the upper half and than cleaned up, the rivets are rusted and cleaned up, yet the spike itself is almost mint. This doesn't match with the condition of the helmetshell...
5) the rivets aren't bent completely, this looks not good for me...
6) the grey paint of the plate is completely different than the grey of the spike and base
Maybe all these little things apart are not bad after all, but putting them all together makes things suspicious for me... Maybe I'm wrong, but this is what I think... Hope this can help you...

Adler
 
I agree that there are certainly several issues with this helmet as already pointed out by other collectors. Although many of these issues can be explained, but I wonder to what extent these explanations are plausible and convincing when taken together.

Best regards,

Edwin
 
Here is my two cents worth, from what I can see in digital fotos. First the wappen is one of the Feldgrau types and does not match the spine or the spike which are both of the Grey painted variety. The secret here though is to look at the paint/patina on the M91 side posts. The wappen, spike, spine of any pickelhaube can be lost over time and replaced easily. However....the M91 posts are securely fixed to the shell. They can be removed but not easily....they go with the shell. So check the M91's thats the true colour of the original fittings on this helmet and any other M15. If you want you can also check the M91 fittings themselves for tampering.....any missing prongs or scratch marks on the renforcement discs, prongs tell you they have been messed with. Patina and paint colour are key on any M15 fittings. Anytime I ever had to replace a wappen or spike top on an M15 to complete it I always had to consider these two factors. In my years of collecting, I have seen the following types of "colour" associated with M15 wappen...feldgrau, grey, a silver grey and a sort of toffee brown colour (kakhi)
 
Beautiful Adler! I can always count on you, R1 et al to have primo examples of what I blether on about from past collecting experiences. Thank you as always. Anyone have an example of that brownish coloured wappen I mentioned? I have seen this colour of paint on belt hooks as well.
 
It's always nice to see how a '' modest'' Haube can cause such an interesting discussion on this forum..

I' m not able to post additional pics of the M91 posts right now, but will do so next week!

regards

Marcel
 
Gents,

Here are the pictures of the M91 sideposts. The colour of the sideposts matches the one on the spike base, spike and the eagle.

Best regards,
Marcel

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Ok Marcel. The side posts are obviously original to the helmet and you say they match the rest of the fittings. Consequently, I have to withraw my suggestion that the helme was assembled from "parts". My apologies and congrats on a nice addition to your collection.
 
Thanks for your comment Brian! However, I'm still in doubt about the rear spine.. It's obviously about one cm too short.. could this be a matter of war tolerance in material?
As said it's colour and patina perfectly matches the rest of the metal parts!

Best regards

Marcel
 
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