Prussian Infantry M1915 Officer Pickelhaube

[RON]

This beauty made it to Montreal 3 days ago \/ ...
I haven't seen it with my own eyes yet and the pictures aren't great but that guilding sure looks nice from what I can see! Also, the shell does look more shiny than the usual which would make it a fiber helmet indeed (thus matching the Depaheg Patent maker).
My only concern is the inside (liner & sweatband) which seems moth infested :ANGRY: . The seller assured me he had the helmet for 40 years and that the mothing had stopped well before he got it but somehow it looks to me like those tiny monsters could still be nibbling on my haube! Therefore, any advice on how to prevent further degradation would be greatly appreciated.

 

[badener]

Cool haube Ronny! =D>

 

[Adler]

A fine late war example you have there Ron. I don't think it's eaten by moths... Thought those little bouggers ate wool? Maybe it was some helmet eating larve or so?

Adler

 

[edwin]

Congratulations with your very nice helmet and thanks for sharing.

Regards,

Edwin

 

[ww1czechlegion]

A very, very nice helmet indeed! Congratulations! Thanks for sharing!

All the Best,

Alan

 

[b.loree]

Nice piece Ron. I do not believe that the helme was attacked by moth larvae either. Dont know if they go after silk but I doubt it and certainly not your leather sweat band;

 

[weirdpyramid]

Very very nice! Beautiful condition, worth every penny. I was eyeballing this one on Ebay for a bit but didn't bid because I was wrapped up on a layaway for another helmet.

 

[Tony without Kaiser]

It was silverfish. The little bastards make those tiny holes, and they prefer glue. I saw one in my room, it darted behind the basebaord on the floor, I tore the baseboard OFF at that second to kill it. Then squirted pesticide in every spot the dogs could not get at.

 

[Lost Skeleton]

Tony, sprinkle some boric acid powder along your baseboards next time and kiss those stinkers au revoir.

 

[weirdpyramid]

It was silverfish.

Really?? wow! I see those little things every once in a while in the bathroom. I had no idea they like to munch on haubes. I had bedbugs here in NYC once in a apartment and the exterminator told me that silverfish kill bedbugs so it was a +1 for the silverfish but now they are back in the negative territory.

 

[poniatowski]

Sooooooooooooo, you're the one who outbid me. :x Seriously though, no biggie and congrats on a nice addition to your collection! With a 7% cut in my take home pay thanks to the f-ing governor in my state, my wife would've not been happy had I won, so you actually did me a favor.

Ron

 

[RON]

Well, the helmet did go to a 'RON' after all and being single with no one to nag the hell out of me still, I thought it was now or never
But to be honest with you, I was quite surprised to win it at this price as I was expecting a much tougher competition! When I first posted the eBay link to the helmet, I was pretty certain everybody was watching it--since no one was talking about it [-( --and that its price would sky rocket during the last hour or so... Lucky for me it only went down with 5 bids in total \/ .

 

[poniatowski]

Well, the helmet did go to a 'RON' after all and being single with no one to nag the hell out of me still, I thought it was now or never
But to be honest with you, I was quite surprised to win it at this price as I was expecting a much tougher competition! When I first posted the eBay link to the helmet, I was pretty certain everybody was watching it--since no one was talking about it [-( --and that its price would sky rocket during the last hour or so... Lucky for me it only went down with 5 bids in total \/ .

I always bid my top bid and never feel bad when I'm outbid. It was a GREAT buy, wasn't it? I'm very happy that a fellow pickelhaube.com'er got it, so it will always be well cared for! As a matter of fact, when I saw the topic title, I hoped it was you who got it. But, after getting my beautiful Saxon M15 just a few month's earlier, I think my desire to have the helmet was misplaced and the helmet gods agreed.

.................. But if you ever decide to sell... :wink:

Ron

 

[argonne]

Congrats Ron, for this nice Haube....
You outbid me too.... :x It was too expensive for me, because I always have to calculate and add these ottytrain2: german custom fees :x
I really like this one, but because I did not won this Haube, I could save my money for another beautiful piece (a near mint R109 EM Haube) that unexpectly went on my way a few weeks later in France \/ ... My sadness was then literally blown away!!!
Gents, I will take some good picts and will present this helmet on this forum very soon too!

Philippe :salute:

 

[RON]

I finally received my Prussian M15 Officer haube.
The good news is that the liner is in excellent shape and what I thought were nips/holes turned out to be 'excrements' from whatever nibbled here and there on the leather sweatband... I cleaned eveything and took many pictures to share with you gents.
As this is my first M15-type Officer haube, I noted a few 'issues' that I need to clear with you guys:
1. The slotted bayonet fitting securing the spike to its base isn't made of oxidized grey steel but instead of non-magnetic grey-painted (oxidized?) brass.
2. More importantly, it turns out the cockades, although magnetic steel, aren't the wartime type (large hole to accomodate the M91 post) despite the fact the posts themselves are of the M91 type, same as the (removable) chinscales. Moreover, the posts which aren't magnetic steel look too shiny to be made of brass?
Hopefully the fact the cockades aren't the M91 type is a wartime 'anomaly' making good use/recycling the pre-1915 officer cockade types?? After all, the only thing that mattered is for the chinscales to be removable so that the officer could replace these with a leather chinstrap when covering his helmet with an Überzug in the field...

 

[argonne]

Ron, very good stuff!!! Bravo!!! =D> =D> =D>
I think you don´t have to worry a lot about the way the M91 side posts and cockades are attached to the helmet. I have seen that a few times before.
Joe has in his collection such an example too. Look:

http://www.pickelhauben.net/pickelhaube/ersatzpioneer.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Philippe :salute:

 

[RON]

Merci Philippe!
It would be interesting to know if ALL M15 helmets by this maker in particular--Depaheg Patent--who only made FIBER spike helmets, had similar peculiarities, namely the non-removable pre-1915 officer cockades... :-k

 

[joerookery]

Cockades argue real different on this type too. Post prongs fit through tiny holes in the cockade

 

[Lost Skeleton]

It's a stunning helmet, Ron. I'd be pleased as punch to have it in my collection.

This may be of interest to you:

http://pickelhaubes.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=3805" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

… and this (from a Württemberg Arty in my collection):

Chas

 

[RON]

Thanks Chas; I feel much better now

If anyone has another Depaheg Patent M15 or earlier helmet, I'd love to compare photos!

Meanwhile, here's a few family portraits fresh from the oven: