Original Item: Only One Available. This is a very good original Austro-Hungarian WWI Model 1917 Stahlhelm, retaining much of its original olive-brown field finish, often referred to by collectors as “Isonzo brown.” The helmet is missing its leather liner pads but retains the original metal liner band, all three liner split pins, and a complete wartime hemp or canvas chinstrap with buckle. The liner band is stamped 64, identifying the shell size, while a very faint interlocking M/W maker mark beneath the left chinstrap bale appears to identify manufacture by Manfréd Weiss Stahl- und Metallwerke A.G. of Csepel, Budapest. The interlocking M/W and size 64 combination is documented for Manfréd Weiss M17 production.

Many of these were only ever marked by the maker with an ink stamp, but this helmet retains an extremely faint maker’s stamp under the chinstrap bale on the left side, which appears to be an M and W interlocking, which would identify the maker as Manfred Weiss from Csepel, Budapest – Hungary. Manfred Weiss Austrian produced M17 are not as common as AW or BGB ones - these two last brands consigned to the KuK Army around 400,000 stahlhelms each during the war period while MW issued just 140,000.

The liner band retains very small fragments of leather in the spots where the liner pads once were, but the pads are entirely gone. The split pins have the correct squared off ends seen on MW helmets. This example is also heat-stamped on the interior of the helmet, very rare to see as the majority of Austro-Hungarian M17 helmets were stamped on the exterior crown. We can only make out two letters, AE.

The chinstrap has some heavy wear and one of the adjustment grommets is missing, but it is still overall solid with a great look.

The Austro-Hungarian M17 was closely based on the German M16 Stahlhelm but incorporated several distinctive manufacturing and equipment differences. The Austrian chinstrap attachment rivets were positioned higher on the shell, the liner and chinstrap arrangements differed from their German counterparts, and manufacturer and steel-production markings were frequently applied in different locations or by ink rather than permanent stamping.

This example is particularly noteworthy for the combination of its size 64 shell, faint interlocking M/W Manfréd Weiss maker mark, squared split-pin ends, surviving original hemp or canvas chinstrap, liner band, and well-retained Austro-Hungarian field finish. Although the interior liner pads are missing, the surviving construction details strongly support identification as a wartime Manfréd Weiss M17 manufactured at Csepel for the Austro-Hungarian Army.