M95 Saxon 12th Field Artillery Pickelhaube

C. Roelens

C. Roelens

Member
12th (1st Royal Saxon) Field Artillery, Dresden, Konigsbruck XII Army Corps. I believe this correct! The size is around 55. There is a little shrinkage on the front visor. The rear neck guard/visor needs a little TLC. The nut on the base of the spine is missing. There are no altered/extra holes for placement of the wappen. Removeable spike. It is clearly named. Otherwise, it's in pretty good condition. Your comments, opinions, information would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Chuck
 

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Beautiful...but...
Two observations:
--Your helmet is not an F.A.R 12 but a Saxon, 12 A., implying "zu Fuß" stationed in METZ (Reichsland Elsass-Lothringen). Indeed, it shows a rear spine cwith ventilation flap and ventilation hole under the neck cover. The F.A.R’s being "mounted" did not have these details.
--As said by Michel, here you have an infantry point for a regiment at Busch (unscrewable point), whereas you would need a fixed ball.
 
Could it be 1st Royal Saxon Train Battalion Nr.12 stationed at Dresden? I believe they had brass fittings and wore a black parade bush hence the removable spike.

Nice helmet. Especially nice to have the original Saxon Kokarden.
 
Hi Chuck, congratulations on a great Foot Artillery Troops helmet for Saxony that you have found.

I'll jump in here and explain as a native English speaker, what Thierry (Clovis 57) is very nicely stating.

Your helmet is Depot Issue marked for Foot Artillery Regiment #12, which of course is from the Kingdom of Saxony. (The marking "12 A" is for foot artillery, the A., implying "zu Fuß", as Theirry correctly says. If it were Field Artillery, it would be marked "F.A.R." and the correct corresponding Saxon Field Artillery Regiment number, which it is not marked that way.) That's what Thierry is trying to say here. Your helmet should have a fixed brass ball on it, and not the nice removeable spike that is currently on your excellent looking helmet. Michel and Thierry are correct that this helmet should have a fixed artillery ball top on it. "zu Fuss" means on foot and not mounted troops. Foot artillery troops utilized a vented backspine, and a ventilator hole on the inside of the neck cover (rear visor) as your helmet correctly has, and Thierry has pointed out.

The 12th Foot Artillery (Saxon) was based out of Metz, as Thierry has stated. He is also correct saying that your helmet should have a fixed ball top, and not a removeable infantry spike top for a parade bush. So, in other words, what Michel and Theirry are correctly saying is that you should find a fixed ball top with base to replace the removable spike and spike base that is currently on this helmet to match the Depot Issue Markings in your excellent helmet.

I have no idea why someone at some point of time placed this nice, but incorrect removable spike and matching base on the top of this very fine-looking helmet. Maybe a doughboy did it, or the Liberty Bond people assembled it wrong when it came to the States. We will likely never know the answer to that question.

Again, congratulations on finding this fine looking and hard to find Saxon Foot Artillery Helmet to the 12th Regiment!

Best Wishes,

Alan
 
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Thank you, Alan, for having perfectly conveyed my thoughts. I add that in this case, since this helmet does not come from the B.A. XII, it does not have the typically Saxon marking as infra. 107R Réservisten.jpg
 
Yes:
--For mounted artillery, or towed artillery, intended to accompany infantry charges, it is written: F.A.R. for Feld-Artillerie-Regiment.
FAR55 Madjek.jpg

--For artillery on foot, (heavy artillery, fortress, siege, position, or marine artillery mounted on rail (wagon), it is written:
-A. or A.F. or A zu F. or Fs.A.R. ARzF3 BA XVIII.jpg
ARzF 32 Saxon.jpg

AR67 Haguenau.jpg
 
Hi Chuck,

It's a very nice helmet IMO. Even with the problems mentioned I still think it has a lot going for it, all the parts are original, so it has great bones to start with.

It's very possible that the original ball and base were taken off when the vet brought it home which was common to make it fit better for storage on the long trip home. Over time it's not a stretch to think it was lost and someone just put and Infantry spike on top because that's what they had or found and didn't know any better or cared.

I think you have at least four options maybe more.

1. Leave it alone and display it as an infantry model without seeing the markings no one would ever know. (easy)

2. Try to find the correct top for the Foot Artillery Rgt 12. and with the 12th foot Artillery rgt not being able to wear the parade brush the whole top needs to be replaced to a fixed ball.

3. Find a black buffalo hair parade brush screw it on and display it as the 1st Saxon Feld Artillery Rgt Nr 12 which indeed that regiment had that right to wear that particular brush. But.... that would create another problem then you would need to change the back spine to the non-ventilated version. It would still have the wrong markings but make a nice display.

4. Find a black buffalo hair parade brush screw it on and display it as the Saxon 2. Grenadier Rgt. 101. It would still have the wrong markings but would look very nice.

So, IMO you have a few options each with work to do except the first. I normally don't recommend messing with helmets but because of its current state someone else has already opened that door. It's just food for thought.

It's totally up to you and how much you want to put into it. Or you could just flip it as is.

If it was mine, I would put it in a case as is and wait till I found the right top to make it complete again to match the unit markings of the Foot Artillery Rgt 12.

MFG John Josef
 
Perfect! Outstanding information! Many thanks to all of you! I will leave it exactly as is for now. If I can find the correct fixed ball top assembly in similar condition and patina to the other furniture, I might be tempted to swap them out. If anyone has one to sell or trade feel free to contact me. I have two more questions please.

1. Is it possible to research the name written inside this helmet? It appears to be Lengendorf.
2. Are there any instances where an Artillery unit would wear a pointed spike?

Thanks again,
Chuck
 
1-Nothing found on Lengendorf, but I’ll let "Argonne" answer, he’s the specialist.
2-The gunners strictly had a ball-head. The only exception was the Bavarian artillery. Here, it will absolutely be necessary to replace the tip with a ball, to be consistent with the marking.
;)
 
CLOVIS 57 said:
1-Nothing found on Lengendorf, but I’ll let "Argonne" answer, he’s the specialist.
2-The gunners strictly had a ball-head. The only exception was the Bavarian artillery. Here, it will absolutely be necessary to replace the tip with a ball, to be consistent with the marking.
;)
Click to expand...
Thanks again, I appreciate your expertise. (y)
 
Also worth mentioning is that even the Bavarian adopted the ball before it was all over.

To be fair Bavarians have always been and still are very independent and a proud people. ;)
 
J.LeBrasseur said:
Great looking helmet Chuck, live the kokarden , great to see you posting more on the forum!

James
Click to expand...
Thanks James. (y) I promise I won't burden members here with the hundreds of German helmets I've posted on GHW2 and WAF over the years. :) The passion still exists within me, but I'm getting older and slower nowadays. Chuck
 
John Josef said:
Also worth mentioning is that even the Bavarian adopted the ball before it was all over.
Click to expand...
Yes, J-J. But the Bavarians will not have a ball crest until after April 1916, when the iron-lined helmet-Feldgrau was adopted by the King and the Bavarian General Staff. So never on helmets with brass inserts.
 
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