Original Item: Only One Available. This is a very attractive original Imperial German Prussian Hussars officer’s Pelzmütze, or fur busby, complete with its original fitted storage box. The elaborate officer-quality construction, brass chinscales, Prussian and Imperial cockades, red Kolpak slouch bag, and embroidered silk lining are all characteristic of the traditional full-dress headgear worn by Prussian light cavalry officers during the late Imperial period and into the WWI era.

The busby is covered in dark fur over its underlying structure. The exterior is now in fair condition with substantial loss to the fur, and a considerable amount of detached original fur remains loose inside the storage box. Despite this deterioration, the underlying form is still solid and shows no major deformation.

The exterior bearskin wrap is in fair condition with heavy loss to the fur, and there is a lot of the fur that has fallen off now sitting in the storage box. The helmet comes with its red slouch bag hanging over the left ear. On the front is a banner helmet plate with the Prussian Motto MIT GOTT FÜR KÖNIG UND VATERLAND (With God for King and Country, i.e. Prussia) on it. The busby comes complete with its brass scaled chinstrap, indicating officer issue, still attached to the side lugs and stretched up over the Prussian cockade as was often done and can be seen in period photos. Despite the moderate damage to the shell and some holes in the reg bag, this example has held up well.

The officer-quality brass chinscales remain present on their leather backing and are still secured to the side lugs. They are presently positioned upward across the front of the busby rather than beneath the chin, a configuration commonly seen when the scales were not being worn down.

It is complete with a Prussian (black and white) cockade attached to the center top of the helmet,and German National Colors (red white and black) Kokarden (cockade) around the right side chin strap lug. 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 headwear, around the chinstrap lug. As the busby and Tschako have the state cockade on the top of the helmet, they did not have to move it from the right to left lug.

The interior has a supple leather sweat band and tremendous embroidered silk crown interior also in excellent condition. There is a very small size tag on the sweatband, 56½. The internal bamboo structure is solid, and the helmet does not show any deformation. The white cording is still attached via the two brass rings at the crown. As mentioned, there is moderate loss of the exterior fur with some holes in the base leather and holes in the red bag as well. 

The original storage box is hardened black leather with a white cotton interior lining. There is a lot of the detached fur now sitting inside of the box as shown. When closed, the box measures 6 ½” tall with a 10 ¼” base diameter. There was originally a leather strap that would secure over the lid, but the strap and most of its loops are gone.

Prussian hussar busbies represented the continuation of an 18th-century light cavalry tradition into the highly formalized uniform system of Imperial Germany. By the eve of WWI, their practical battlefield purpose had largely disappeared, but they remained important symbols of regimental identity and cavalry prestige. The survival of the original storage box, embroidered officer’s lining, complete cockade arrangement, chinscales, red Kolpak, white cording, and size marking makes this an especially strong representative example of Prussian officer hussar headgear despite the exterior fur loss and wear.