What next????

M

Mike Huxley

New member
Ok guys, as a newbie I've now been trapped into this demonic hobby of collecting Pickelhaubes. The replies to the posts of my Baverian helmet have pulled me in even more. I haven't posted pics of my Prussian foot artillery helmet as yet , but I'll get around to that soon.

Now I wish your guidence on what direction my haube collection should take. For about four years now I have been drawn to collecting Saxon awards and have an interest in the 22nd Pioneer Battalion and would love to own a helmet from this battalion. Is there anybody here that has a helmet to this battalion for sale?

Anything else Saxon would help me to gain my objective ... Your help is required .. point me in the right direction Please.
 
Tony nailed it but you know exactly where to go! Similar to Tony's example of the 25th dragoons. You are looking for a specific helmet identified to a certain Saxon Pioneer Battalion. Seems pretty clear to me. Now you have a bunch of guys here on the forum, who might find one for you! I will always endorsed quality. You will get ripped off. You will get fooled. All of us have experience in getting burned. You have made a name for yourself and we are looking for Saxon stuff for you now.

Of course thing about this collecting crap is that you intend to focus but you fail. For God sakes look at Tony's collection it is humongous. But he had to start somewhere and you have a tremendous start.
 
For God sakes look at Tony's collection it is humongous. But he had to start somewhere
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Yeah Joe, look at Tony's collection, and to see it you need to go to Kaiser's bunker, his german stuf is just part of it, if Tony would stick to shoulder boards, there would be enough stuff for 20 other collectors to have a great collection. You would think that some one whith such a great collection would write a book and do it soon, we are not all going to live forever.
Gus
 
Hey Joe, I do know what you mean and a request has been put in. I know the chances are slim but it would start to build a theme to my collection.

The main thing I have learnt from my award collecting is to ask the questions from the experts in the field before splashing out with the hard earned money. I'm sure that at some time I'm going to get burnt ... but I'm a cautious sort of guy who doesn't jump that quick. Maybe I lose a bargin, but I'd rather be sure of what I have.

My knowledge grows from others and I will endevour to pass that back to the guys that follow on.
 
Mike

For what its worth, a large part of what makes this such a rewarding hobby for me is aquiring knowledge, and a large part of that knowledge is adding to my reference library. No matter what direction this hobby takes you, you will NEVER be sorry that you had spent money early on for references vs. helmets. With your references, you don't need to own a massive spike collection in order to review a particular nuiance on a helmet (or uniform, or medal) so that you discuss intellegently with your fellow collectors. And frankly, with only a few helmets (initially...) but with some good references, you may ask questions that no one (including the old-timers) had thought about. Many of the threads on this forum were all about nuiances and "things that make you say hmmm". Also, know that there is no ultimate reference. Some are very good, but all have some flat spots and part of the fun is using several sources to nail down a particular question you, or some other collector, might have. Perhaps a future thread on listing forum member's references and a "value rating" might be of benifit.

Regards

Dave
 
Dave,

You are 100% right with the reference thing. To be honest I'm a reference freak. I get started in the basics of collecting a subject and then am not satisfied, so I buy books, and so it goes on. This started many years ago with my interest in aviation, I now have a collection of over 150 books on the subject of 1st and 2nd world war aircraft along with over 500 models to go with it.

I have looked at Joe's book recommendations on his site and have ordered IMPERIAL GERMAN MILITARY OFFICERS’ HELMETS AND HEAD-DRESS 1871-1918. I already have Randys volume 1, but there are a couple of others that I like the looks of.

Has anybody else got any suggestions???
 
Mike, If you are interested in helmets, then my favorite is Hermann's book,

Reiner, H. (2000) Militaerische kopfbedeckungen der kaiserzeit Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart.

In German, but VERY easy to find and easily translate information like fittings color, Wappens, bandeau, M91 post colors etc etc. He shows beautiful color photos of both older and M15/Ersatz. A great book for quick reference and worth every penny.
 
Tony, That book you suggest looks great, but it seems that it's no longer published, well not on the publishers site anyway. I did see one for sale on Amazon.de but the they wanted 200 Euros for it :shock: is that about the right price? If you know of any sellers please let me know.

Joe, again I can't find the Didier Laine book for sale anywhere either. If you see one on eBay give me a shout please.

Thanks for the suggestions.
 
Mike,

The two volumes from Lacarde are very good. I struggle very hard with French. They are not available in English and volume 1 is hard to come by. Volume 2's index is all screwed up, but you can work through it. He traces a lot of history and covers a very wide range very well in a couple of thin volumes. I've seen individual volume 1's go for $200.

Just like any collecting though, no one book will be enough, nor will it be complete enough. So as part of the addiction, you will get a lot of books!
 
Joe,

Thanks for the info again. As you say, no one book gives enough, each writers views and understanding are reflected in their books. As collectors we have to make our own minds up as to what is gospel and what needs to be taken with a pinch of salt.

The main thing is that we study as much as we can, read as much as is available and reflect on our own findings. In the end it's about sharing information and not being afraid to ask questions, or for that matter question others findings if they need clarification.
 
Hey Mike, if you need anything, ask Joe, he can find it. Once he even found an auction for invitations to a wedding party in blighty (I don't remember if it came with a date or not) but the seller pulled the auction, as the invites were so popular, I think he thought that the party was going to be fun, so he went hem self. Notice how Joe gets off topic, next thing he will be talking about beer. I always like Stiegel Beer form Salzberg.
Best wishes
Gus
 
Gustaf said:
Notice how Joe gets off topic, next thing he will be talking about beer. I always like Stiegel Beer form Salzberg.
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Hey Gus, I just like beer of any sort, but you can't beat the home brewed stuff .... cheap and plenty of it ... so much better for those parties
 
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