Prussian Tin kit helmet

J.LeBrasseur

J.LeBrasseur

Administrator
Staff member
Picked this one up back in April at the Minnesota Military show. Goes along with the one on the right I already had.

So here is the story, a good friend of mine and fellow forum member back in the day found 3 of these, all complete and in stellar condition.

He sold one to me, one to another forum member and one to another collector in Minnesota.

At the last show, the other collector showed up with his for sale on his table, not cheap, but where do you find complete almost mint ones, so I bought it.

Both are Textbook examples with proper notched Kokarden(which is correct for Kit helmets) Great liners and with upper felt pad for the head which is almost always gone. Also, notice how the visor trim on these ends in a sharp point on the side.

Now still kicking around whether or not I will keep both? May bring one to SOS, or if a forum member is interested let me know. Not a cheap helmet, but you will not find a better example.

thanks

James






 
Glad you could pick that helmet up at the show James!

Add another helmet to the list of these that Jerry found over the years. I bought a very nice example from him as well, back in the early 2000's. Unfortunately I sold it along with some other helmets I wish that I hadn't sold, in order to pay for my Garde Du Corps officer helmet fiasco. Within 4 months of acquiring the kit helmet from Jerry, I found one myself here in IA, and sold it to someone in Canada via eBay (no, it wasn't Brian).

Best Regards,

Alan
 
Classic kit helmets....textbook examples! I bought mine from Randy T years ago in the same condition. Excellent James.
 
Hi James
They are very nice helmet. I am interested. Can u email me at [email protected] as I can't send you a private message using this platform. The message stayed in the outbox and refused to be sent

Regards
Amy Bellars
 
A question...does anyone have a kit helmet from another state other than Prussia? For example Baden or Wurttemberg? :?
 
I have a Württemberg from Colonel Rankin's collection:

UZH8XLP.jpg


This one has a vented spine that is original to the helmet. Apparently all left over parts were utilized.

John :)
 
John: Are the Kokarden ( V cut out) and liner similar? Do you have the felt skull cap in your example?
 
b.loree said:
John: Are the Kokarden ( V cut out) and liner similar? Do you have the felt skull cap in your example?
Click to expand...

The Kokarden are raised in the center but are not "V" cut.
I do have the felt insert:

C8zuyzD.jpg


The liner is undyed, very thin leather. There are reinforcements on the tongues and a snap in the back:

rKgcTwy.jpg


This helmet has a vented rear spine. Colonel Rankin addressed this in his book, even though this helmet is not pictured, and Bowman did as well. According to them parts left over from M95's were used up on early ersatz models. This would probably make this helmet unpopular to a purest.

0VMOjf3.jpg


John :)
 
Thanks for posting those pics John, I have never had a good look at a Wurtt kit helme before. Last question.....is the wappen held on by the typical soldered loops and wedges or does it have the tube and cane stick as my Prussian has?
 
b.loree said:
Thanks for posting those pics John, I have never had a good look at a Wurtt kit helme before. Last question.....is the wappen held on by the typical soldered loops and wedges or does it have the tube and cane stick as my Prussian has?
Click to expand...

The Wappen is held on with a tube and a stick passing through it. There is a slot in the front of the helmet that the tube goes in to. There are no additional holes. The rear spine is firmly attached and, I find this interesting, the tab on the end of the spine is folded over and is held by the pressed in spike. There is no indication the the spike has ever been removed leading me to firmly believe that the vented spine is original to the helmet.

John :)
 
I would agree John regarding the spine. You also have the typical brass square nut on your spine whereas the typical kit helmet has an octagonal nut. Interesting that the leather liner was so thin that they decided to add metal grommets. We usually only see this on tschapka liners.
 
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