Description
This is a One-Year-Volunteer Pickelhaube for a line-Grenadier-Regiment that displayed the FRW wappen. A total of eight Grenadier-Regiments could have worn a wappen similar to this at various times up to 1913. They included Grenadier-Regiment Nr’s 2, Nr 3, Nr 5, Nr 6, Nr 8, Nr 10, Nr 11, and Nr 12. As this pickelhaube has state and Reich’s kokarden, rather than the single state kokarde used prior to 1897, we can eliminate Grenadier-Regiment Nr’s 2 and 8. They shifted to the newer style Grenadier wappen prior to 1897. Historically, we can reduce the number of regiments that wore this to SIX. They included Grenadier-Regiment Nr 3 (founded in 1685), Nr 5 (founded in 1689), Nr 6 (founded in 1772), Nr 10 (founded in 1808), Nr 11 (founded in 1808), and Nr 12 (founded in 1813). Whew! As you can see, these were very old and elite regiments. All fought in the Napoleonic Wars and the Franco-Prussian War under Prussian leadership.
The helmet’s leather body is quite pleasing, with only minor scuffing. All of the furniture is gilt, including the chin scales, wappen, spike, trim, etc. As this is a One-Year-Volunteer’s Pickelhaube, many of the features are pure officers quality. This includes the early Grenadier-style wappen with the FRW center. The older-style Grenadier wappens also have an eagle with folded wings, rather than the later style where the eagle had outspread wings. The pearl ring, trim, and spike are all officers-level items. Only the lack of officers stars and the enlisted man’s kokarden indicate that this is NOT an officer’s helmet. The two kokarden for state and Reich are attached. Inside the helmet is a pure, officer’s-quality, leather sweatband and silk liner. Underneath the silk liner we see all of the original hardware. No double holes appear where the wappen is attached. We also see that the helmet is marked as a size 57 ½. This is an incredibly clean spiked helmet that dates from the period of 1897-1913.
