Original Item: Only One Available. This is a traditional German first world war Bavarian Officer's brass mounted leather helmet known as a Pickelhaube, for the Foot-troops (Infantry). The M1886/14 Bavarian Pickelhaube was the final evolution in a long series of spiked helmets, and is very similar to the Prussian version. The M1886 version features a cruciform spike base on ALL helmets, both enlisted and officer. The star retaining pins on the base definitely identify this as an officer. It also has the M1886/1914 modified wappen, which removed the branches and bay-leaf ornamentation around the Lions.

Like all pickelhauben, it was manufactured from boiled leather, lacquered black, and provided with fittings made of brass or German silver, dependent upon the Regt. The protection it offered was very limited and led to the eventual replacement by a steel helmet in 1916.

This helmet features a brass infantry wappen (front plate) with the Bavarian coat of arms, over the kingdom's motto, In Treue Fest, German for "steadfast in loyalty."

The helmet appears to be fitted with two Prussian (black and white) cockades, which are incorrect for this helmet. However it’s possible that the paint has just worn away enough to wear down the blue color. It should have Bavarian (blue and white) and German National Colors (red white and black) Kokarden (cockades) around the chin strap lugs, but the two Prussian cockades actually appear well enough for display. In 1897 the new Reichs-Kokarde in Red-White-Black was introduced for all ranks to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Kaiser Wilhelm 1st. The Reichs-Kokarde was to be worn on the right side of the helmet, and the state Kokarde was moved to the left. The two Prussian cockades are retained by the slightly convex officer chin scales, which are secured directly to the helmet. There is heavy wear to the leather behind the chinscales but they still display well.

The front visor appears to have been detached and reattached at one point, but the stitching for it appears gone. The top of the helmet has the correct tall fluted spike, which can be unscrewed to mount a parade plume. The spike base underneath have lovely "egg and dart" perlring around it, typical of the officer design.

The interior of the helmet shows that the lining was replaced with a black leather lining, but it appears so old that it could be of the period, if not from the early post-war era. The skull cap is still retained. There are no markings we could find.

The black leather shell shows heavy wearing away of the material especially under the wappen. There is also a level of leather shrinkage due to age, the reason some of the brass fittings are somewhat loose.

The correct square front leather visor has brass trim in good condition, but it is a bit loose to the visor, which has some finish "melting" as often seen. The metal spine that descends from the spike's baseplate to the edge of the rear visor is also in very good condition, as is the rear visor. The stitching holding the rear visor is still intact, though as mentioned the front visor was reattached and is not currently stitched to the helmet well. It is sagging.

Overall a very nice condition Bavarian Infantry Officer pickelhaube, a great addition for any serious collector.