Seeking Help in Identifying this Shell

[billmunny]

Greetings friends!

I have this shell and would very much appreciate thoughts on it's identity. It has markings for a cruciform with equal length arms and the impressions of the wappen are not clear to me...thanks for any thoughts!

 

[poniatowski]

Pretty hard to say without the visor. If all of the 'arms' of the cross base imprint are equal, then it's most likely Hessen, or a Beamte of some sort. The 'shadow' from the Wappen looks more like Wurttemberg or Bavaria to me, but it's hard to tell. Even looks like the shadow of a sword on the right side (left looking at it) and indents from a badge of some sort. So, yes, a real mystery.

 

[poniatowski]

This is what I'm seeing... sword????? on the left of the photo, indents in the center (squiggle crossed out, disregard) and the shadow of the Wappen? Of course, I could be well off base. Let's wait for others to offer opinions.