Today for Gus’ Gear I have a Bavarian Ersatz Picklehaube. The spiked helmet was the iconic headgear of the Prussian Army since 1842. Bavaria was the last of the German States to adopt the Pickelhaube in 1887. The Raupenhelm was the type of helmet used before 1887. The standard Pickelhaube was constructed of a leather body with brass fittings up until 1915 when the fittings were changed to steel due to a shortage of tin to make brass. The need for helmets during the beginning of the Great War required a different type of body as the leather helmets were time consuming to form. Ersatz helmets were made of thin steel, paper mache, vulcan fibre (an early form of plastic) and felt. This is a felt example.
This is an early ersatz helmet with brass fittings. The Wappen (front plate) bears the motto of Bavaria, In Treue Fest. The chin strap on this helmet is interesting, it is from an earlier Raupenhelm and is likely original to the helmet. Supplies were short and using chin straps from obsolete helmets would have been one way to cope with shortages.
The left side of the helmet shows the Bavarian Kockarde, which is white, blue, white. This is referred to as a Model 1895 Filtzhelm, they were first produced in 1914. Of all the felt helmets I have handled, I have yet to find a dated one. There has been some speculation that ersatz helmets were produced before the start of the hostilities, and it can be argued that they would not have been dated to avoid speculation that Germany had planned to start a war long before the first shots were fired.
The right side shows the Reicheskockarde, painted black, white, red. The small vent on the rear spine can be seen in this photo, it can be slid back to open a vent hole that is about 5 mm in size. Most of the spiked helmets have this comical vent. The amount of work and material to produce this had to be significant, but the actual benefit of such a small vent seems dubious. There are also several vent holes around the base of the spike, and in some cases the spike can be rotated to open or close the vents. Some damage to the rear visor is visible here, this helmet is not in the best condition, but it was a gift from a very good friend, and I do not plan on upgrading this one.
Visible here is the inside of the helmet, the liner is missing and the two leather wedges that hold the Wappen in place are replaced with bits of matchstick. In spite of the missing liner, this helmet does diplay nicely and serves my needs very well.