Reserve Senior NCO Pickelhaube for Preußen Line Infanterie

Tony without Kaiser

Tony without Kaiser

Departed
Staff member
Well, I was a civilian for three days, and started my job in the Reserve on 24 Feb, so I think a Reserve helmet is suitable to show now.

GO RESERVES!! :guns:

Not too exotic I know, but a nice helmet. This one is thanks to a lead from my US Marine buddy Bryan.

GO MARINES!! :-x

Click HERE to link to the write up and photos.

dbh75.jpg
 
Nice helmet Tony.

I'm really glad it found a good home. Thanks for the tips on the verdigris and the shellac formula. I'll be working on that tonight.

Brian,

Do you have any liner leather for sale that would work on a Prussian officer's vulcanfibre helmet? My leather in my one of my officer helmet liners has crumbled to dust. The silk is still good though.

Thanks in advance,

Bryan.

(oh yeah,-GO CANADIAN ARMY!)
 
Hi Tony,
My compliments on your write-up describing the Senior NCO helmet. Beautiful photos and a very interesting discussion. I have been a victim of the Urban Myth regarding the pearl ring. Can you point me to a reference that discusses that topic?
I also found your comments regarding the placement of the Landwehr Cross on the EM helmets very interesting, "Unlike the issued Mannschaften (Other Ranks) Wappen which carried the Landwehr cross on the chest for Landwehr and Reserve, for officers and private-purchased eagle Wappen it was different; for Reserve the Landwehr cross was mounted to the tail feathers, for Landwehr the Landwehr cross was on the chest. For both, there was no "Fatherland" Bandeau" I didn't realize that there were different rules for the EM and the officers. Again, can you point me to a reference? And can you share any info regarding the enlisted members who had reserve status? I've seen these helmets, but have never come across anything in the literature that talks about the role of the enlisted reservist.
Thanks for any info you can provide, and again, thanks for a quality piece of research.
Regards,
Jim Turinetti
[email protected]
(email address)
www.kaiserhelmets.com
(web site for my book - please visit) The website is being updated and will be back on line in about a week.
 
Hello Jim,

We met at the SOS in 2008. You asked for references regarding the so-called "NCO Perlring" urban myth. Unfortunately in this case, references often are the problem. Old references could not explain differences in spike base Perlrings such as this, so they made it up as they went along. One of the worst that comes to mind, is that atrocious book Pickelhauben by Eric Johansson, personally responsible for the genocide of countless good helmets as a result of his idiotic advice to soak helmets in water to reshape them and then buff the fittings and coat liberally with lacquer. :angryfire:

The true references in my mind, are period photos. Countless photos show men in the Foot-Troops (Infanterie, Artillerie, etc) who are the rank of Private, wearing what are obviously Eigetumsstück (privately purchased) Pickelhaubes, and clearly visible are any variety of Perlring; plain, round, officer-pattern 'egg & dart' etc. This inability to explain what they did not know, also resulted in some authors making-up that each and every Eigetumsstück Pickelhaube belonged to an Einjährig-Freiwilliger (One year volunteer). Once again, they were wrong; countless photos show men who are not EJF wearing Eigetumsstück helmets.

Any recent reference book worth buying will indicate that men of both Landwehr and Reserve wore the Landwehr Cross on the chest, while for Reserve officer's the Landwehr cross was mounted to the tail feathers, for Landwehr the Landwehr cross was on the chest. A few that come to mind are:

Kraus, J. (2004) The German Army in the First World War Verlag Militaria Vienna

Knötel H. & Pietsch, P. & Collas, Baron D. (1935) Das Deutsches Heer W. Spemann, Stuttgart (1982)

Herr, U, Nguyen, U. (2008) The German Infantry 1871-1914 Two Volumes. Verlag Militaria, Vienna

Kraus, J. (1999) Die feldgraue Uniformierung des deutschen Heeres 1907-1918 .Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück

Reiner, H. (2000) Militaerische Kopfbedeckungen Der Kaiserzeit Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart

Das kleine Buch vom Deutschen Heere. (1900) Lipius & Tischer

Pietsch, P.(?) Formations und Uniformierungsgeschichte des Preussen Heeres 1908 bis 1914. Verlag: Helmut Gerhard Schulz, Hamburg (1963)

I am afraid I have zero information on Mannschaften in the Reserve, try Joe's site http://www.pickelhauben.net/ he has quite a few good artuicles on areas such as this.
 
Hi Tony,
Thanks for the thorough reply. I appreciate the listing of references. The two by Kraus are the only ones I'm not familiar with, so I shall hunt them down, ( I have the rest of the list in my library). I try to confirm a fact with a minimum of at least two independent sources before I use it in one of my books. I'm finalizing my work on the Landwehr Crosses and didn't want to proceed until I'd discussed this with you. I have used the same methodology that you have employed. I've observed hundreds of period photos, and they all point to the same conclusions that you have reached. I agree, some authors have done a world of damage to our hobby.
Thanks again for your help.
Regards, Jim
 
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