This page profiles some helmets from my collection from before 1919; Mainly from Imperial Germany and the French Republic. As with my main “Gallery” page, these helmets are not for sale. My collecting interests tend to sway toward examples of the more typical types of helmets rather than ones which are rare and unusual. But I aim for the best condition ones I can find. We’ll start this page with some Imperial German officer’s Pickelhauben generally dating from 1900-1915. Then a number of steel helmets ca. 1916-1918
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Prussian Line officer helmet
Pretty as it may be, this is a very basic example of the most common helmet of it’s type. This would have been purchased and worn by any officer of a Prussian Infantry unit.
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Prussian Artillery officer helmet
A decent example of a Prussian Kugelhelm or ball-topped helmet worn by Artillery officers.
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A Baden Line officer helmet
This helmet is adorned with the distinctive Griffin with shield; the symbol of the state of Baden.
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A Wurttemberg Line officer helmet for Regiments 119 & 123
I remember seeing a bumper sticker on the car of a WW1 reenactor that said simply; “Wurttemberg forever”. For many years, I sued to spend most of my time in Germany down near Stuttgart so I felt that Wurttemberg was my favorite German state. I like Wurttemberg helmets because they are a little more fancy; usually having squared front visors and cruciform spike bases. Also, you have to love the design of the frontal plate.
I bought this helmet in 2001 at the big collector show in the Killesberg Messe just outside Stuttgart. This tremendous show was famous for decades; being the highlight of the year for many collectors.
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A spike helmet for an officer candidate of the Prussian Guard
Prussian guard front-plates are very three-dimensional with that protruding Guard star on the front.
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A Saxon Line officer helmet
Another helmet from my days of attending the Mega-militaria show in Stuttgart back in the 90s.
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Prussian General “A la Suite” helmet
This is known as the “a La Suite” helmet which was worn by officials who held the rank of General in the Imperial Army; but not necessarily held the authority of a General. A helmet like this is another way of illustrating that rank had it’s privileges in the Prussian army. The Generals got the most ornate helmets. Squared visor, convex chinscales, cruciform spike base and a whopper Guard star on the front plate. Who could ask for more?
Now we move onto the Steel helmets…
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M16 helmet ca. 1916
This is an early production M16 helmet produced by “Bell-L”. It has a leather framed liner and a brass mounted chinstrap. This helmet was captured by S.N. Strow; a Private with Battery F of the 101st Field artillery regiment, A.E.F..
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M16 helmet ca. 1917
This is a late war M16 helmet which displays some production changes which occurred as Germany’s war dragged onward. The liner has a steel frame and the three pads are made with Chrome-tanned leather which bleaches out the skin color of the hide. The chinstrap hardware is zinc coated steel. Note the original drawstring which became standard by war’s end. It is composed of a two-strand linen cord.
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M16 helmet ca. 1917
This helmet is basically the same as the one pictured above but I am particularly fond of it. The German soldier wrote his name on both the rear shell skirt and the front liner pad. The chinstrap is original to the helmet as is the standard linen drawstring. 99% of the time, helmets are missing one or both these components
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M18 helmet, ca. Summer 1918
By the middle of 1918, the German finally did away with that horrible chinstrap system which the designers had simply copied the 1891 style enlisted spike helmets. The new model had the chinstrap permanently mounted to the liner frame.
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M16 Helmet with 1918 camouflage
Collectors are starting to term these helmets as ‘Ludendorff camos” because camouflaged of helmets and equipment became commonplace at the time of the Spring 1918 offensives during which General Ludendorff served as first Quartermaster General and is said to have had a hand in specifying this camouflage type. I have never been sure whether the application of camouflage continued throughout the remaining months of the war or if the practice was only done during the offensives of spring/summer 1918. Certainly examples continued to be used by the time that the A.E.F joined the general allied push in the fall of 1918. These helmets became very popular souvenirs of the American soldiers. I used to have quite a number of M16-M18 camouflage helmets but lack of space and ever-evolving collecting tastes have whittled that part of my collection away. I still keep this one though. It’s the best one I’ve ever owned. maybe the best I’ve ever seen. I bought this in the spring of 1999 at the militaria show in Arlon, Belgium. It cost $335
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The French model 1915 Adrian helmet
The French were the first in the history of modern warfare to come up with a mass produced steel helmet for general issue to every soldier. The initial reason was because of the significant number of head wounds caused by flying debris. The helmet was intended to protect the soldier from rocks and wood kicked up by artillery. Those who laugh at the seemingly ridiculous thin gauge of the steel forget that the helmet designed by French Colonel Louis Auguste Adrian was not intended to stop bullets nor do more than possibly deflect shrapnel. Adrian’s design was simple and fairly inexpensive to produce with over 3 million being made in the first 6 months, the helmet soon became part of the iconic image of the “Poilu” which achieved legendary status at the 1916 battle of Verdun; which was the second of only 3 series of offensives undertaken by the German army on the Western front 1914-1918. Intended by the Germans as a showcase battle in which the French army would be bled white; for 6 months The French; under the worst possible battlefield conditions, threw back everything that Falkenhayn could throw at them. It was not the French army of 1940. Adrian helmets have always seemed to be cheap and plentiful in the collecting market. But good condition examples are quite rare. I am an admitted “condition whore” so have always sought out the best pieces that I could find. Here are some of what I have accumulated over the decades.
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M15 Adrian helmet for Infantry, ca. 1917
An M15 Adrian helmet with factory applied “Horizon blue” paint and a flaming bomb service branch badge indicating Infantry. The manufacture time-frame of a French Adrian helmet is arrived at by the type of liner observed. The first liners were cut from a single piece of leather; either in black or tan. This one is made from individually cut “fingers” sewn to a circumferential leather band. Known as the “second pattern” liner which came into use in 1917, this is an early “M17” type liner which is made from leather sections all died/tanned in the same color.
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M15 Adrian helmet for Artillery, ca. 1917-1918
An M15 Adrian helmet with factory applied “Horizon blue” paint and a flaming bomb service branch badge with crossed cannons indicating Artillery. This helmet has a type of liner which appears on helmets issued late in the war. The “fingers” are dyed black.
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M15 Adrian helmet for Pioneers, ca. 1917
A fairly early example with the first pattern Liner; being cut from a single piece of leather. The service branch frontal badge is the figure of a Currass and helmet; indicating use by Engineers.
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M15 Adrian helmet for Pioneers, With Veteran plate
I was attending a small military show near Luneville in eastern France in 1999 and this helmet was on a seller’s table priced at 650 Francs. (Just about $100 at the time). I agonized over it all day because although I recognized it as a premium early example, I had never paid such an exorbitant price for an Adrian helmet. Finally as the show was wrapping up, I was able to talk the fellow down to 600 francs. Another example of how times have changed.
I have to explain the brass plate on the front visor in case you are not familiar. When World War one ended and the French army demobilized in 1919, the average soldier was allowed to keep nothing of his uniform or equipment. He was sent home with the civilian clothes that he had when he entered the army ( or what he could purchase when he left the army). In the years immediately following, there were a lot of parades and veteran meetings. A soldier who had served was allowed to apply to the local military establishment for a helmet to be given him for the purpose of veteran activities. He was allowed to purchase a crescent shaped brass plate to affix to the front visor. He was charged 20 centimes (4 US cents at the time). So much for the thanks of a grateful nation…
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