Description
BADEN – PICKELHAUBE / SPIKED HELMET – OFFICER – INFANTRY-REGIMENT Nr 109
This is a very fine example of a highly sought after officer pickelhaube from 1. Badisches Leib-Grenadier-Regiment Nr 109. This elite regiment was founded in 1803 during the midst of the Napoleonic wars and was garrisoned at the capital city of Karlsruhe where it was attached to the XIV. Armeekorps.
In the German army there were seven elite infantry regiments. The pickelhauben that they wore was dictinnctly different from the other line and guard regiments from their respective states. Included in this group was 1. Garde-Regiment zu Fuß from Prussia, Infanterie-Regiment Nr 92 from Braunschweig, Königl. Sächs. 1 Leib-Grenadier-Regiment Nr 100 from Saxony, 1. Badisches Leib-Grenadier-Regiment Nr 109 from Baden, Leibgarde-Infanterie Regiment (1. Großherzogl.) Hessisches) Nr 115 from Hesse-Darmstadt, and Grenadier-Regiment Königin Olga (1. Württembergisches) Nr 119 from Württemberg, and Infanterie-Leib-Regiment from Bavaria.
Each of the headdress from these regiments are highly sought after. The pickelhauben from Saxony and Württemberg are not as showy and hence can be purchased for a more reasonable price. The other five which include four pickelhauben and one mitre are the real stars of the headdress of infantry regiments.
The officer pickelhaube from 1. Badisches Leib-Grenadier-Regiment Nr 109 is a masterpiece of the art of German pickelhauben. Our example has a fine leather body. There are some areas of spidering but this is not a real problem to the overall presentation of this spike helmet. There is also a slight settling at the base where the spike base is located. The helmet has brass flat chinscales and officer stars. The remainder of the helmet has silver toned wappen, spike base, pearl ring, spike, back strap, and front visor trim. The final detail are the State and Reich kokarden. The State kokarde is the pattern unique to Baden, Hesse-Darmstadt, Saxony, and Mecklenburg-Schwerin. In my opinion, this is a far more elegant pattern than that of Prussia. The Reich kokarde is of the Prussian pattern and thus presents a interesting contrast to the Baden kokarde.
But the real star is the wappen. This is a frosted silver and it is a Griffin with wide spread wings. On his chest there is a silver sunburst. This is vaulted and protrudes more than on any example. On this sunburst we see the Hausordern der Treue which was issued from 1715-1918 in various forms which included a Golden Kette (Which was an elaborate collar.), Großkreuz, and a Breast Star. There are small green enamel flecks at the base of the center circle below the initials. The decoration on the on the wappen has red enamel arms and trimmed in brass. The center of the decoration is also brass. At four points between the arms of the decoration, we see a royal cypher which matches the cypher in the brass center.
Turning to the interior, we see a leather sweat band that has seen use but has not been abused. Attached to that is a beige silk liner that is in excellent condition free from rips and tears. Under this most excellent silk liner we see that all of the original hardware is present. Even more important we see that there are NO extra holes where the wappen is attached.
Thus we have a 100% original spike helmet from 1. Badisches Leib-Grenadier-Regiment Nr 109. It is not uncommon to see examples of this helmet to be offered pickelhaube to be offered for in excess of $10,000.00 We were able to acquire this helmet from an elderly collector in Germany for an attractive price, and we pass the savings along to you.
