Rare lacquered felt or just plain fake?

SkipperJohn

SkipperJohn

Well-known member
This could be a lacquered felt helmet. I've only seen photographs of one.
It could also be a complete fake.
The cockades are obvious "beer can" fakes.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/WW1-Imperial-German-Prussian-Pickelhaube-genuine/322935049671?hash=item4b306dcdc7:g:2W4AAOSwywRaLvYF" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

John :?
 
Wappen has been repaired, liner doesn't look correct, chin strap is repop, helmet has a leather edging all around with a brass front visor edge placed over it, and lastly from the UK.
 
I know that the cockades and chin strap are reproductions, and poor ones at that. I am looking at the shell. When you look at the stitching it seems correct. The crazing and familiar wear on the shell is also very convincing. The liner may be a replacement, but the shell may be a unique original. The Wappen, though repaired, is original as are the spike and rear spine. The front visor trim appears original also. One of the studs holding the spike base is questionable. I have seen some of these Ersatz versions that had a similar rear visor, neck guard, that was not a separate sewn on piece. There was once a post on this forum about an Oldenburg helmet that had that design, but photobucket fixed that. If this helmet did not have the sewn on leather edging I would have it on my watch list. Sewn on leather edging is almost always a give away to a fake --- but not always. This helmet almost looks like a painted version of a cloth covered Ersatz.

I have to admit that I am extremely curious about this one.

John :?
 
When I look at this one all I can think of are those fake felts that come out of the UK in the 70's. They all had leather edging and this one (to me) appears to one of those someone painted.
 
It is intriguing John. And bad looking for all of the reasons listed. Normally, I would say wave-off, shipmate, but the shell looks really cool. I don't know; I've never seen a lacquered cloth shell. But if I could get it cheap enough to not be burned too badly, I might consider jumping on an item like this...
 
I know we have a few members who either have, or have had, this type in their collection. Maybe they could speak to the look of the shell. To me, it looks legit, but then, I've never owned one and it could be a fake. The reason I say legitimate is lining on the inside of the visors. I don't think a forger would do that. :-k ????

Then again, it's coming from the land of forgeries.

:D Ron
 
I would like to point out that the liner on this piece is exactly the same as original liners found on all felt hauben. These liners are stitched all around inside the shell and you can see that stitch line in the pictures posted on Ebay. In my opinion this liner is original and correct. The felt liner sits within the shell rim and has a sharper fold line. The leather haube liner is stitched to the outside rim of the shell and then folded over into it. The crease/fold line is thus thicker as a result. If you have a filz helme in your collection, take it out and look at the liner and you will see what I have talked about. I do not have a problem with this helmet.
 
I guess the body of the helmet is made out of a mesh or a woven metal base that was then aplyed with a substance to make the helmet body or it was beeing lackered
If you look hard enough you can see the mesh structure on the inside as wel on the outside
And even the mesh itself on the picture where he shows the inside (last picture)
Aspesialy on the visors you can see the structure of the mesh
Al the other features look to be original like how the grommets are fixed on the shell ,the stitch linpes
So the mesh sits in the middle to make it hard
I guess if this would be a plain fake it took a hell of a job to make it in the first place

Jonas
 
Just made some research on this helmet
One would never know that the one who won this helmet is a member here on the forum
In my books i found the same type of helmet witch is discused in the book 'feldzug 1 by michael baldwin'
this one can be found on page 140
So i guess for beeing a plain fake this is out of the question
It has al the same characteristics mentiont in the book

Jonas
 
kaiser said:
Just made some research on this helmet
One would never know that the one who won this helmet is a member here on the forum
In my books i found the same type of helmet witch is discused in the book 'feldzug 1 by michael baldwin'
this one can be found on page 140
So i guess for beeing a plain fake this is out of the question
It has al the same characteristics mentiont in the book

Jonas
Click to expand...

All I know is that someone had a great deal more faith in it being original than I did.
I was thinking of bidding at the minimum price, but then decided not to.
It sold to someone for $714 US.

John
 
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