SkipperJohn
Well-known member
During the War of the Fourth Coalition, under the hands of the French army and Napoleon Bonaparte, the Prussian Army was decisively beaten in 1806 at the battles of Saalfeld, Jena, and Auerstedt. Prussia submitted to major territorial losses, was made to reduce its army to just 42,000 men, and to sign an alliance with France in the Treaty of Tilsit. Prussia was forced to reduce its number of Kurassier regiments from 13 down to only four. Many of the remaining Prussian Army units escaped to the east and began an alliance with Russia rather than submitting to French rule. During this time the Prussian Army underwent a complete reform, including tactics, strategies, weapons, and uniforms. Until 1807 Prussian Kurassiers wore a tricorn hat with an iron cap, called a casquet, underneath. Prussian Kurassiers did not wear a cuirass after1790 by order of Frederick William II, so even the name Kurassier was somewhat of a misnomer. Prussian Kurassiers did not use the cuirass again until 1814. In 1809 Prussian Kurassiers adopted a helmet modeled after the Russian version worn since 1803. This was the first Prussian Kurassier helmet, Model 1809:
The shell of this helmet is made of boiled leather and is extremely thick. The body of the helmet is tarred, probably with birch tar. One reference refers to this as being lacquered with birch tar. This made the helmet virtually waterproof and rendered it highly resistant to insects and mold. There are rolled leather reinforcements, two on each side, that are stitched to the helmet shell with linen thread that assist in keeping the helmets shape.
The front visor is sewn to the shell and then folded over the stitches. The rear neck guard is sewn on in a fashion similar to that of a Pickelhaube.
The helmet shell is sewn up the back leaving the flaps of leather on the outside to be made into the comb, or Raupe.
The front plate is made of gilded brass and the Adler Wappen is stamped into it. The front plate is held on with two brass wire loops at the bottom and one screw fastener at the top. This top fastener also secures the Raupe support to the helmet. It is tightened with a strange, thick brass, “H” shaped nut. The brass is a yellow gold color and is likely a close derivative of Prince Rupert’s metal. Prince Rupert’s metal was developed by Prince Rupert of the Rhein (1619-1682), and was yellow in color, cold malleable, extremely tarnish resistant, and was often used in jewelry to simulate gold. Actually this metal was a mistake. Prince Rupert was trying to develop a stronger metal for naval cannon at the time.
This helmet is 16” tall at its tallest point and is extremely heavy. Simply giving a measurement does not begin to describe how massive this helmet really is. To accurately show this helmets sheer mass, a photo is provided with the Model 1809 sitting next to the familiar Prussian Model 1895. Both of these helmets fit the same size head.
The liner of this helmet is made of thick, padded leather, with a linen inner liner sewn to it. The linen liner would have had a drawstring to tighten it around the wearers head. The underside of the rear neck guard is lined with a treated cloth or leather veneer and is dyed black. The front visor underside is the same as the rear only the color is green. This color coding of black in the rear and green in the front will be a tradition on all enlisted Kurassier and Jager zu Pferde helmets until their demise in 1916.
The Raupe is made of horsehair and is sewn between the leather flaps on the helmet shell. The horsehair is braided and sewn together at the base. It is then sewn in with linen thread. It appears that the linen thread has been tarred.
The tail of the horsehair raupe is bunched up and sewn together at the base of the helmet shell in the rear. The neck guard has a slot where the leather from the Raupe passes through.
The 75mm Kokarde is made of silk and is colored in standard Prussian colors, black-white-black. Silk is a highly resilient material which can last hundreds of years unless it had been weighted. In the 1840’s manufacturers began weighting silk with sugars and metallic salts to increase profits. It was perfectly legal but the silk material was weakened by it. Weighted silks can dry out, shred, and they do not hold dyes well. Weighted silks also have a tendency to glow under black light, raw silks do not. This Kokarde does not glow under black light.
The rosettes have a screw fastener and are held in place with iron nuts about ½” square. The studs holding the front visor trim in place have bent pins. The front visor trim is 11mm wide. The chinscales are flat and measure 39mm at their widest point. The chinscales were flat on all models until a military directive ordered that they be changed to convex, between 1816 and 1818. There is no latch on the end of the chinscales to attach them when the chinstrap is not being worn. Instead the chinstrap itself has a small brass buckle that holds the chinstrap linked when resting on the visor. I seriously doubt that this helmet could be worn without the use of a chinstrap. After looking through what seems like thousands of period paintings, it appears that officers preferred to wear the tricorn hat through most of the Napoleonic Wars.
The helmet is reinforced on the side with a folded up leather earpiece. This earpiece allowed free movement of the chinscales and kept them from rubbing on the helmet shell. These earpieces would evolve into the M91 lug support on future Pickelhauben.
This helmet could have been worn in the battles of Bautzen, Leibertwolkwitz, Leipzig, etc.
The Kurassier regiments using this helmet were:
No 1: Silesian Kurassier Regiment
No 2: East Prussian Kurassier Regiment
No 3: Brandenburg Kurassier Regiment
No 4: Magdeburg Kurassier Regiment
The Garde Kurassiers wore this helmet but the front plate bore the Garde Star instead of the Adler.
Starting in 1813 the Prussian armed forces put to rest any doubts as to their military prowess. They came back from the defeat in 1806 --- and they came back with a vengeance.
This helmet was modified several times over the years and went out of service in 1842 as the Model 1833. It was replaced in 1842-1843 by the metal Kurassierhelm and the Pickelhaube.
I know this helmet is beyond the normal timeline generally discussed in this forum; however, my hope is that it may provide additional historical perspective regarding the development of the Pickelhaube.
John
The shell of this helmet is made of boiled leather and is extremely thick. The body of the helmet is tarred, probably with birch tar. One reference refers to this as being lacquered with birch tar. This made the helmet virtually waterproof and rendered it highly resistant to insects and mold. There are rolled leather reinforcements, two on each side, that are stitched to the helmet shell with linen thread that assist in keeping the helmets shape.
The front visor is sewn to the shell and then folded over the stitches. The rear neck guard is sewn on in a fashion similar to that of a Pickelhaube.
The helmet shell is sewn up the back leaving the flaps of leather on the outside to be made into the comb, or Raupe.
The front plate is made of gilded brass and the Adler Wappen is stamped into it. The front plate is held on with two brass wire loops at the bottom and one screw fastener at the top. This top fastener also secures the Raupe support to the helmet. It is tightened with a strange, thick brass, “H” shaped nut. The brass is a yellow gold color and is likely a close derivative of Prince Rupert’s metal. Prince Rupert’s metal was developed by Prince Rupert of the Rhein (1619-1682), and was yellow in color, cold malleable, extremely tarnish resistant, and was often used in jewelry to simulate gold. Actually this metal was a mistake. Prince Rupert was trying to develop a stronger metal for naval cannon at the time.
This helmet is 16” tall at its tallest point and is extremely heavy. Simply giving a measurement does not begin to describe how massive this helmet really is. To accurately show this helmets sheer mass, a photo is provided with the Model 1809 sitting next to the familiar Prussian Model 1895. Both of these helmets fit the same size head.
The liner of this helmet is made of thick, padded leather, with a linen inner liner sewn to it. The linen liner would have had a drawstring to tighten it around the wearers head. The underside of the rear neck guard is lined with a treated cloth or leather veneer and is dyed black. The front visor underside is the same as the rear only the color is green. This color coding of black in the rear and green in the front will be a tradition on all enlisted Kurassier and Jager zu Pferde helmets until their demise in 1916.
The Raupe is made of horsehair and is sewn between the leather flaps on the helmet shell. The horsehair is braided and sewn together at the base. It is then sewn in with linen thread. It appears that the linen thread has been tarred.
The tail of the horsehair raupe is bunched up and sewn together at the base of the helmet shell in the rear. The neck guard has a slot where the leather from the Raupe passes through.
The 75mm Kokarde is made of silk and is colored in standard Prussian colors, black-white-black. Silk is a highly resilient material which can last hundreds of years unless it had been weighted. In the 1840’s manufacturers began weighting silk with sugars and metallic salts to increase profits. It was perfectly legal but the silk material was weakened by it. Weighted silks can dry out, shred, and they do not hold dyes well. Weighted silks also have a tendency to glow under black light, raw silks do not. This Kokarde does not glow under black light.
The rosettes have a screw fastener and are held in place with iron nuts about ½” square. The studs holding the front visor trim in place have bent pins. The front visor trim is 11mm wide. The chinscales are flat and measure 39mm at their widest point. The chinscales were flat on all models until a military directive ordered that they be changed to convex, between 1816 and 1818. There is no latch on the end of the chinscales to attach them when the chinstrap is not being worn. Instead the chinstrap itself has a small brass buckle that holds the chinstrap linked when resting on the visor. I seriously doubt that this helmet could be worn without the use of a chinstrap. After looking through what seems like thousands of period paintings, it appears that officers preferred to wear the tricorn hat through most of the Napoleonic Wars.
The helmet is reinforced on the side with a folded up leather earpiece. This earpiece allowed free movement of the chinscales and kept them from rubbing on the helmet shell. These earpieces would evolve into the M91 lug support on future Pickelhauben.
This helmet could have been worn in the battles of Bautzen, Leibertwolkwitz, Leipzig, etc.
The Kurassier regiments using this helmet were:
No 1: Silesian Kurassier Regiment
No 2: East Prussian Kurassier Regiment
No 3: Brandenburg Kurassier Regiment
No 4: Magdeburg Kurassier Regiment
The Garde Kurassiers wore this helmet but the front plate bore the Garde Star instead of the Adler.
Starting in 1813 the Prussian armed forces put to rest any doubts as to their military prowess. They came back from the defeat in 1806 --- and they came back with a vengeance.
This helmet was modified several times over the years and went out of service in 1842 as the Model 1833. It was replaced in 1842-1843 by the metal Kurassierhelm and the Pickelhaube.
I know this helmet is beyond the normal timeline generally discussed in this forum; however, my hope is that it may provide additional historical perspective regarding the development of the Pickelhaube.
John
