Picklehaub find

[sasktraveler]

Hi Guys
Happy to have acquired this picklehaub .I believe it is Yaks hair.
comments welcome

[sasktraveler]

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[sasktraveler]

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[IVAN]

Very nice !

[Adler 1]

Nice looking pickelhaube, but I have a little problem to see what it is actually...
It's clearly a private purchase helmet, but I see Officer's perlring and stars on the haarbush mount, NCO kokarden and an enlisted man's helmet plate (also for NCO). The back spine also seems to be an EM or NCO model... or am I missing something?

Adler 1

[ww1czechlegion]

Looks like it's supposed to be a Guard Train Battalion Helmet.

By Adler 1
Nice looking pickelhaube, but I have a little problem to see what it is actually...
It's clearly a private purchase helmet, but I see Officer's perlring and stars on the haarbush mount, NCO kokarden and an enlisted man's helmet plate (also for NCO). The back spine also seems to be an EM or NCO model... or am I missing something?

I agree with Karel. I'm also confused by the combination of parts on the helmet.

Best Regards,

Alan

[sasktraveler]

info

info I got for your comments. Here’s an article on One Year Volunteer Helmets from Der Reittmeister web site http://www.derrittmeister.com

"One-Year-Volunteer" (OYV). A OYV enlisted in the army under a different program from ordinary recruits, whose terms were for two years. A OYV's term of enlistment was for one year, followed by service in the reserves. Following service in the reserves, he was often promoted to a Leutnant der Reserve. These young men came from upper middle class families and in some cases from nobility or even royalty.
In return for the government accepting their enlistment as an OYV, the COMPLETE cost of outfitting and maintaining the individual (including payment for quarters and provisions) was borne by his family. The German Army permitted a great deal of latitude in pickelhauben styles when it came to non-issued helmets. An OYV was allowed to wear very high-quality headdresses quite similar to those of officers. This was because he was expected to PAY for whatever he wore, hence the flexibility! He was allowed to have many of an officer's helmet's details, but not all of them.
For example, some of the primary differences between most officers' vs. enlisted men's/NCO's spiked helmets were in the area of wappens, officer's stars, kokarden, and spikes. As you study an OYV helmet, you will find them very similar to many officers' helmets from the same regiment. An OYV helmet is actually quite scarce. The numbers of OYV's was very limited in a regiment. As variants, they are quite desirable and collectible.

[ww1czechlegion]

Yes, "flexibility in what they could wear".... (You'll find better explanations on the Kaiser's Bunker and Colonel J's websites than on Ken's website that you're quoting from)

Normally when you see these helmets that are paid for/purchased by the soldier, you see fancier front plates on them and not just a plain enlisted style front plate and the basic quality enlisted style guard star.

I have concerns about this helmet being fitted with an enlisted man's style back spine on this helmet. This would not be "typical" or "normal" for a OYV (one year volunteer) or an Eigetumsstück helmet (private purchase) that has officer style star retainers for the spike base, or the officer style spike, or the officer style pearl-ring around the base of the spike, or the officer style green and red lining under the front and back visors. If the soldier paid for the helmet and paid for the fancier upgrades, I doubt he would have "run out of money" in order to pay for the fancier style front plate and a swollen style private purchase enlisted guard star, and a fancier officer grade back spine. Those are my points/questions.

Yak hair or buffalo hair plumes were normally worn on officer helmets, and white horse hair plumes were normally worn on an enlisted man's helmet for regiments that were allowed to wear them for parade.

Would you care to share with us and reveal what/who the source of your purchase was (old collection, dealer, auctionhouse, etcetera), and if there was any history with it?

I was hoping that you would have received some better feedback on the Pickelhaubes.com website where you posted this today, but it probably hasn't been on there long enough for others to chime in on it yet.

Best Regards,

Alan