Hello Mush and picklehaubes fans,
I found this one 2 years ago during a business trip to France along with 2 M1915 Adrians and a M1915 prussian haube is bad shape.
The helmet has already been posted on another forum and we did not really found any answer to its provenance.
It is made of cloth covered cork and leather . It has a faint marking on the rear skirt. I will dug out what was said on this one when posted.
Any info welcomed.
Thank you for looking
Phil


pic 2

pic 3

pic 4

pic 5

pic 6

pic 7

And the marking

Any comments welcomed.
Phil

Perhaps its not an ersatz helmet but one of those used in Africa pre war and during the war .Rob.

A very interesting one. I owned a similar piece in 'tan twill' a decade ago however it was a complete Prussian haube. I think yours reflects a repair or field adaptation/mod. in order to remove the spike which was not uncommon...only my 2 cents as usual. Also seems never to have had a wappen which does add an additional question mark to the equation.

Robert

Hi Rob's,
According to Joe Robinson (Colonel J's web site) the marking could belong to the Saxon Inf Rgt 100, but there is no record of erzats haubes ordered by the Saxony state. So the mistery is complete.
Phil

Why would there be the need to mention 'ersatz' in an order for helmets? I would think their presence in the supply system wouldn't warrant any notation. The fabrication of these helmets was simply a response to economic constraints imposed by the 'leather embargo' of 1915. I always thought they could be randomly dispersed to a variety of units. Thanks!

Robert

Hi Robert,
Yes, could be a answer.
Thank you
Phil

Hi Phil,

How many haubes do you actually have?? Wow! Yes,this haube is a puzzle, at first I thought that this mauy be one of those so called 'macedonian front' haubes, well, I have never actually see any of those macedonian haubes...
This one looks ersatz allright, looks like some depot guys had hastily remade the upper part of the haube, where the spike base is suppose to be, perhaps this one doesnt even have a spike base, a true ersatz.
The marks looks like 130 R to me, 130 R is a prussian Rgt 3. Lohring. Inf Nr 130.
Perhaps your haube was already in the final leg of the ersatz, some of the latter ersatz didnt even have a wappen, just a cover and a chinstrap, thats it.Not even a spike.

Btw, I will be out of town for several days, hope i can log in the forum.
Phil,pls show us more of yr haubes!

Hope this helps,
Mush

That is what many people think as a result of old books that got it wrong. Ersatz helmets appeared in 1914 almost immediately after the war started. There is a good explanation here at this link along with some KILLER examples. Would I love to have some of those! http://www.kaisersbunker.com/pt/ersatz.htm

Hi Thomas,
Yes, very interesting site.
BTW you will see mine on the erzats topic.
Regards
Phil