Variations on the M1842 Pickelhaube Eagle Plate

Sandmann

Sandmann

Well-known member
Dear fellow collectors,
I‘m currently working on a next Blog entry for my website about the Prussian helmet eagle plates from 1842 to 1918. In this search I came across different helmet eagle variations of the M1842/43 and I wonder if there are more of them?
I have already found the following type of helmet eagles M1842/43. A big thank you to Tony V, Tony Schnurr and philipp-militaria.com for allowing me to use their photos!

Cast helmet eagle M1842/43 for enlisted men and officers:
image0.jpeg

Cast helmet eagle M1842/43 for officers:
image1.jpeg

Standard helmet eagle M1842/43 for enlisted men and officers (This one was modificated in 1860 with a soldered banner):
  • It is 12,5 cm - 13 cm high, has straight upwards directed wings with Schwarzenegger-Biceps, a large head and crown, protruding material between wings and legs and wide swept tail feathers.
image2.jpeg

The following variations of the helmet eagles M1842 are all Landwehr eagles. I have no doubts that the helmet eagles originally belong to the helmets, because they differ in some points from the similar looking helmet eagles M1860 or M1871. I think that they were produced shortly before the introduction of the M1860. Since they are exclusively Landwehr eagles and their quality is substantially better than the standard M1842, I guess that they were all emblems for property helmets.

Variation 1 of a helmet eagle M1842/43:
  • Similarities to M1860: Tail feather roots and missing Schwarzenegger-Biceps.
  • Differences to M1860: Larger head and crown, straight upwards directed wings, the eagle is higher than a M1860 and the scepter angle of a M1860 is flatter.
image3.jpegimage4.jpeg

Overlay M42 variation 1 and M60 (aligned to width, which was always about 14cm):
image5.jpeg

Variation 1A of a helmet eagle M1842/43 for officers:
  • Similarities to M1860: Tail feather roots.
  • Differences to M1860: Larger head and voided crown (not common for officers until 1860), straight upwards directed wings with smaller Schwarzenegger-Biceps and the 3 leaves at the end of the curved line on the wings are still designed as on the M1842. Later versions were pressed in like shown on the example before. Further the eagle is higher than a M1860, the scepter angle of a M1860 is flatter and the center tail feathers have an additional step at the lower third.
image9.jpeg

Variation 2 of a helmet eagle M1842/43:
  • Similarities to M1871: Tail feather roots, missing Schwarzenegger-Biceps but 3 bumps behind the ellbow.
  • Differences to M1871: Straight upwards directed wings, the eagle is much higher than a M1871 and the scepter angle of a M1871 is flatter. The 3 bumps behind the ellbow are larger than these on the M1871. Further the roots of the tail feathers with the pattern "vVv" are narrower than on the M1871 and there are still feathers from the body next to them. On the M1871, the tail feather roots are wider and shorter and the feathers from the body shown next to them, if they are present at all, are much narrower and blend right into the feathers of the legs.
image11.jpegimage12.jpeg

Overlay M42 variation 2 and M71 (aligned to width, which was always about 14cm)
image13.jpeg
 
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Well done Sandy! I hope you realize that your comparisons and analyses are significantly adding to our knowledge of Pickelhauben. 👍
 
Thank you Gentlemen, I appreciate your opinions :)
Tony remind me another helmet eagle M1842 variation, which is also a Landwehr eagle:

Variation 3 of a helmet eagle M1842/43 for enlisted men and officers:
  • Similarities to Standard M1842: At first glance it resembles the standard M1842 helmet eagle, but….
  • Differences to Standard M1842: The head is a bit smaller, as well as the Schwarzenegger-biceps. In general, there are several small differences that are not immediately noticeable: the body is a bit wider, the design of the swept tail feathers is different in shape, as well as the shape of the legs.
M1842__Landwehr_Pair_.jpeg
 
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I‘d like to add another variation of the helmet eagle M1842. What is noticeable here are the very thin extremities. It was most likely produced by Christian Harkort, as the helmet had a label inside and looked untouched.
D7C08C18-E94E-494C-965F-719CC3067D68.jpeg
 
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Dear fellow collectors,
I‘d like to share another 2 variants of a M1842 helmet eagle.

The 1st is from a helmet M1842 that was manufactured by Wilhelm Jäger from Elberfeld. The helmet was pressed out of 1 part of leather with integrated front- and rear visors (seamless). It was shown in an article named „Ein preußischer Helm mit Schirm ohne Naht“ by Ulrich Herr in the German magazine for military science:
4DAED7E4-968D-446F-A118-8707A1AEE14C.jpeg
The 2nd is also from a helmet that was manufactured by Wilhelm Jäger, but it is slightly different. It is almost identical to the No. 3 eagle variant shown above with a round feather design, but without the Landwehr cross and with the letters "FR" instead. I saw it on an issued helmet M1857, that was recently for sale on weitze.net:
06B876D4-2E9A-4EC8-82BE-8C5836A3A3B3.jpeg
 
Here is a better foto of the helmet eagle variant M1842/43 shown in post No. 6, with the very thin legs:
91BCC728-77D4-41F9-B1BD-895C2CD20277.jpeg
This one is from a helmet M1843 currently being sold from Helios Auctions (NY, USA) and which is listed on liveautioneers.com (see link):
www.liveauctioneers.com

An M1843 Officer Cuirassier Helmet With Original Lining Auction

Model 1843 Prussian Cuirassier Enlisted pickelhaube helmet with original liner. The helmet features a chased brass Prussian Imperial eagle plate on the {ellipsis}
www.liveauctioneers.com www.liveauctioneers.com
It was probably made by Christian Harkort, as the leather helmet shown in post No. 6 was one of his helmets.
 
Nacuaa said:
Weitze was offering one of the seamless helmets last year.
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Do you still know the article No. of it? Weitze is very helpful and often shares the sales photos for study purposes if you ask nicely. I would be very interested to see photos of it, because I only know the exemplar from the mentioned article in the "Zeitschrift für Heereskunde", but there were no detail photos.
 
Well done Sandy for this study.
I remain dubious about the drawing of the infra eagle, which for me is at the earliest the drawing of the November M60. The design is quite innovative, compared to the various M42s.
Aigle M60 du 11-60 et M42.png
 
CLOVIS 57 said:
Well done Sandy for this study.
I remain dubious about the drawing of the infra eagle, which for me is at the earliest the drawing of the November M60. The design is quite innovative, compared to the various M42s.
View attachment 52472
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Thierry, thank you very much. I appreciate your knowledge and of course you are allowed to have doubts, I don't claim to know the truth. After such a long time and such a loss of information because of ww2, we can all only make assumptions anyway.
As far as I know, however, there were these deviations in the helmet eagles of the model 1842. The specifications in the regulation most likely weren’t formulated and defined down to the smallest detail. That's why I think following:
Most of the enlisted men's helmets came from major suppliers with whom the military had signed contracts. The majority of helmet eagles therefore look the same.
But then there were the NCOs, the one-year volunteers and the officers, who had to buy their own helmets at their own expense. They weren't tied to the main military suppliers and could buy their helmets from one of the countless military effects manufacturers that existed at that time. Many of these makers certainly had their own helmet eagle molds, which is why the officer helmet eagles and reserve helmet eagles in particular show the most deviations from the standard helmet eagle M1842.
I therefore think that the dimensions of the helmet eagles were the most important. The design of the tail feathers, the design of the cloverleafs on the wings or the size of the head was certainly left to the artist. And if there are helmet eagles M1842 with characteristics of the M1860 or M1871, then these were most likely developments by small manufacturers, which may also just have been introduced in later years of the M1842. However, I think the quality and designs finally prevailed, so that they were later adopted for the common soldiers too. In other words, an evolutionary process.
 
In post 8 and 11 there are feathers midway, that are separated. Is this the retaining pin where it would have the screw post or loop to attach inside the helmet itself? On Post number 5 on the left hand Eagle you can see clearly the circle being present. Do these have different fixtures for attachment or are they universal?
Great study and comparison.
Best Regards,
JustinG
 
In post 8 and 11 there are feathers midway, that are separated. Is this the retaining pin where it would have the screw post or loop to attach inside the helmet itself?
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You're right, these are the pins with stealthy heads. However, this was only one way to attach the helmet eagle. Soldered threaded pins were also available at this time.
On Post number 5 on the left hand Eagle you can see clearly the circle being present. Do these have different fixtures for attachment or are they universal?
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These areas marked with the small circle you mentioned were, in my opinion really meant for drilling the holes for the pins. This was a very smart move, because since the heads of the threaded pins were designed to fit the surrounding feathers very precisely, it was a great advantage to ensure that the pin always sat at the same location. So you could be sure that the head was uniformly well camouflaged. However, not all helmet eagles had this marking. This was a small but very well thought-out adjustment that some innovative manufacturers came up with to ensure consistent quality with as little work as possible.
Great study and comparison.
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Thank you very much 🙏:) 🙏
 
@artastx Would you mind showing the eagle with the Iron Cross on the front how those attachments were to the eagle?

Thanks and Best Regards,
JustinG
 
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