Original Item: Only One Available. This is nice Infantry Regiment enlisted man's Mannschaften (other ranks) pickelhaube. The M1895 was the final pre-1914 evolution in a long series of spiked helmets. It displays lovely condition brass Prussian spread eagle helmet plate and comes complete with relic original leather liner. The spike on top denotes infantry issue and retains the correct brass chinstrap lugs.

This helmet features a lovely gold-colored alloy frontplate (wappen) with with the Crowned Heraldic Griffin clutching a sword and resting on the Baden state shield. Below this is the Grand Duchy's motto: MIT GOTT F. FUERST U. VATERLAND (With God for Prince, or Grand Duke, and Fatherland).

The issued Wappen in 1895 were intended to be made out of Tombak (an alloy made from a combination of copper and zinc) but it seems that the copper-color was unpopular and they were soon replaced with Aluminumbronze which has a very bright brass appearance. Unfortunately a past owner decided to play their hand at restoration and soldered a flathead screw on each side and punched/melted larger holes in the front of the helmet instead of correctly lining everything up.

The crown of this leather helmet displays a brass vented enlisted spike mount on a brass baseplate but is missing the retaining pin at the top. The spike is in excellent condition, and as per the pattern, is fixed and does not rotate. The chin strap is missing, so unfortunately both the Prussian State cockade and National Colors cockade are missing as well.

The soldered bolt and nut system used to secure the front Wappen onto the helmet was changed to a system for retaining Wappen on the front of helmets that had been used as far back as 1845 for Bayern (Bavarian) helmets and 1867 for Sachsen (Saxon) helmets. A soldered loop was affixed to the back of the Wappen which passed through corresponding grommet holes on the front of the helmet. A leather or wooden wedge was then passed through the loop on the interior to keep the Wappen in place. As stated above, this was “restored”.

The lacquer finished leather is in very good condition having no serious issues, just the usual cracking and finish crazing due to age. The finish also fell victim to “restoration” and was relacquered with a heavy coat making the material extremely hard. All fittings are in good order but are loose. The interior features an original leather liner, with the expected wear from age. The visor stitching on the front and back is almost completely intact but has the high possibility of being restitched and glued on.

Ready to display!