Helmet Plates/Wappen For Beginners

b.loree

b.loree

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The most visible part/fitting on these helmets is the wappen/plate. When we get into the "rarer and more expensive" helmets, most of the increased value has to do with the wappen on the front of the shell. Certain regiments in the Imperial German army were awarded special historical battle honours on their helmet plates. Most of these were awarded for their service in the British Forces during the wars against Napoleon. The "honours" generally take the form of named battle ribbons/bandeau added to the helmet plate. Many of these honours are specific to one Regiment alone in the German army and as such, those helmets command high prices. However, in this post we are going to look at the most common wappen that the beginner collector is going to see when looking for his/her first helmets.
Kingdom of Prussia: To be continued...I ran into some problems with photos.
 
Some photo examples:
First an example of a wappen from one of those special Regiments with "Napoleonic battle honours"
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The wappen is from Pioneer Battalion #10 which fought alongside the British against the French. Note the silver helmet plate which is typical of Pioneer. The wappen colour always matched the tunic buttons.....so PB 10 had silver buttons. The battle honours are always outlined in black paint. In this case PB 10 fought in Spain (Peninsula) and at Waterloo. PB 10 was given this honour on Jan. 24 1899. As to value, if you could find one, they start at approx. $600US
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The reverse showing screw posts which indicates that this comes from an older pre 1900 helmet. Note the typical grey patina of 100+ year old solder and how it was "puddled" around the screw posts. These are characteristics that most all originals have...any new shiny solder indicates the piece has been messed with. We can also see that the Napoleonic Bandeau was added on after the plate was stamped pre 1899. It is soldered on in 3 spots. Later bandeau wappen will have the honour stamped into the entire piece.

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Grey painted steel Prussian Model 1915 helmet plate. This is the most common of all helmets and wappen. There are tens of thousands of these in N. America. Note the lack of detail and sharp lines. this is a late war stamping where the dies were getting worn out and so we see this lack of clarity.
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These steel plates rust in damp conditions. Note: the feet of the loops are most often flattened before soldering.
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The second most common helmet and wappen, the Model 1895 Prussian OR's. Made from stamped brass with a "gold wash" applied. FR = Frederich Rex king of Prussia. Motto: With God For King and Fatherland. The Prussian units made up probably 80% of the Imperial Army and thus, their helmets are the most easily found.
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Again, grey "puddled solder", loops with flattened feet and note the gauge of the wire loops. Most fakers can't duplicate this gauge of brass wire. They will use thin gauge wire or modern soldered screws. You can also see the splashes of gold wash on the reverse side (sceptre and cross).
 
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The second largest contingent in the Imperial Army came from the Kingdom of Bavaria and naturally the numbers of their helmets and wappen available correspond.
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The brass M95 Bavarian OR wappen and again the awesome beautiful , crisp details of the pre war die stamping.
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A lot of old lead solder puddled on here! :) Note: the feet of the loops are turned inward facing each other which is peculiar to Bavaria. However, some Bavarian loops are done in the Prussian manner. While dominated by the Prussians, the Bavarians tried to make their equipment and helmets slightly different whenever possible.
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The Bavarian M15 OR stamped steel wappen.
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Again inward pointing legs on the loops.
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An example of the M95 Bavarian reservist wappen. These crosses are found on all reservist wappen and the cross metal is always contrasting with that of the wappen itself. If this wappen was silver then the cross would be brass.
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The reveres side, with the loops done in the Prussian style! :D
 
Collecting pickelhaube helmet plates/wappen can be another slightly less expensive option for many of us. I have been collecting for 40+ years but as yet, I have no complete officer or OR (Ordinary Ranks) Prussian Napoleonic Bandeau pickelhaube. I do have a number of non Prussian equally rare helmets in my collection from the smaller Dukedoms of Imperial Germany, so I am ok with that. If I have the funds, I buy rare wappen whenever I can. So, I may not be able to afford the complete helmet BUT I do have the most important piece of History which connects to that special regiment....the helmet plate! This post in the "Beginners Section" is going to be continued with a brief look at the officer wappen and their characteristics and I do have some opinions on those! :) . Oh...and yes I do own that Oldenburg Dragoon # 19 Officer helmet used as my avatar.
PS: We have a separate section devoted to wappen/plates here on the forum. In there we show many very rare examples from the "Napoleonic Regiments" and the smaller Imperial German states. I encourage all collectors to go there and take a look.
 
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