What do you think? Prussian Guard

[Peter B]

What do you all think of this one? Chinscales look almost too big for it?

 

[coert65]

Well, I would strongely advise you to stay well clear of it.
In my opinion the wappen is fake, the spike is fake too. And the liner is "puffy", so probably a fake too.

This how my Guard helmet looked. For the interior and rear spine some more pictures here:


I think somebody is selling this as a Guard helmet, while in fact it doesn't have the star, so would be a Grenadier one if it was legit,
which I doubt.

Greetings, Coert.

 

[Tony without Kaiser]

In that configuration it would be Garde Grenadier. Your instincts are correct, those chinscales have been replaced, probably off an officer's Pickelhaube. An M1871 Mannschaften Pickelhaube like this should have screw bolt retainers. Plus there are other issues with that helmet.

See >> http://www.kaisersbunker.com/pe/m1871.htm

 

[Peter B]

Thanks all. Definitely passing on this one.

 

[911car]

Notwithstanding the multiple flaws mentioned above (and those not mentioned), Tony is correct when identifying this as a Garde grenadier helmet. In WW1, an eagle like this one would be for a line grenadier, while a Garde grenadier would have the Suum Cuique center added. However, the Suum Cuique plate was only adopted in 1889 by the two Garde grenadier regiments. Since this helmet should be a 1871 model, it should be for a Garde grenadier (all line grenadier regiments were created later).
When you look at the picture of the inside, on the front side, it seems that there are at least 4 different screw attachments behind the eagle... what can this be?..

 

[Peter B]

Inside attachments for the wappen. Thoughts?

 

[Peter B]

Could this helmet have been modded by the wearer back in the day?

 

[Peter B]

This is the spike.

 

[Peter B]

Thinking about it again. What are the other flaws? What about the strange attachments for the wappen?

 

[pickelhauben]

I would say 100% fake
Even the screw to the spike is way to thin.
Eagle and spike are totally fake and the shape of the leather skull is way off.

 

[Peter B]

The wappen looks the same as this one on Tony’s site.

http://www.kaisersbunker.com/dunkelblau/helmets/dbh59.htm

Could the shape issue with the skull be due to shrinkage with age?

 

[Peter B]

I’ve also been looking around and the screw size for the spikes seem to vary from thicker to thinner. Saw a post here of trichters with varying screw sizes as well.

 

[Peter B]

To my novice eye it certainly has the very old look to all the parts, including the age of the leather shell. Wouldn’t that be very hard to fake? Seller claims his father had it in his collection for years and seller is 64.