Original Item: Only One Available. This is the best example of a painted 91st ID insignia we have seen so far. The hand in which the numbers were painted is beautiful as well as the color and black outline. The shell is maker marked with a stamping on the underside of the rim that reads ZD 217. The solid rivets and heat lot number indicate that this helmet shell was produced in the United States. The marking ZD 217 is there to enable the manufacturer and batch of steel from which any given helmet was manufactured to be identified easily. Some people refer to the batch of steel as the "heat of steel".  It was necessary to mark the helmets so that, should a given helmet fail the ballistic tests made on a sample of helmets from every batch, it was possible to identify the manufacturer and all other helmets from that batch to enable further tests to be carried out and, if necessary, rejection of all helmets from that particular batch. Z is the steel supplier, and D is the company that stamped the shell.  217 is a sequential lot number assigned by the Ordnance Department that corresponds to the actual heat number.

The paint is in good condition on the outside of the helmet, the inside does have a lot of surface rust. The partial felt top pad is worn and deteriorated due to age and use, and surprisingly part of the original tag is still present. The oil cloth and liner is no longer present and the chinstrap is just a small section left on the left side and is in delicate condition.

The best feature of this helmet is definitely the original hand painted 91st Infantry Division - The Wild West Division emblem in the center of the shield. The Division Insignia maintains most of the original paint and is still very clear. As we stated previously, this is the best example we have seen so far. It is the standard "Fir Tree" with a white 91 in the middle.

A great example of an authentic WWI "Doughboy" helmet shell from the 1st Infantry Division, ready to display!

The 91st Infantry Division’s Brief WWI History

Constituted on 5 August 1917 at Camp Lewis, Washington, near Tacoma, the division, commanded by Major General Henry Alexander Greene, soon thereafter departed for England in the summer of 1918. In September 1918, the division's first operation was in the St. Mihiel Offensive in France. Serving under the U.S. Army's V Corps, the division, now commanded by Major General William Johnston Jr., fought in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive and successfully helped to destroy the German First Guard Division and continued to smash through three successive enemy lines.

Twelve days before the end of World War I, the division, as part of the VII Corps of the French Sixth Army, helped drive the Germans east across the Escaut River in the Battle of the Lys and the Escaut. The division was awarded separate campaign streamers for its active role in the Lorraine, Meuse-Argonne and Ypres-Lys campaigns.

In 1919, the 91st was inactivated at the Presidio of San Francisco.

History of the M-1917 “Doughboy” Helmet
The United States entered into World War I in April 1917, at this time the United States Army did not have a helmet for its troops. The adoption of a helmet by the French, British and German armies convinced the United States Army that a helmet was needed as a standard piece of equipment. In June 1917, the United States Army selected the standard British helmet design for its use. This was the British Mk. I steel helmet. There were three main reasons for the selection of the British Mk. I helmet design: "the immediate availability of 400,000 ready-made helmets from England, the simplicity of manufacture from hard metal, and the superior ballistic properties." When the British Mk. I was selected by the United States Army, its United States production version was designated and standardized as the Helmet, M-1917. Until United States production of the M-1917 could begin, the United States Army purchased the 400,000 available British Mk. I helmets in England and issued them to the American Expeditionary Forces already in Europe. Production was begun on the M-1917 helmets in the fall of 1917. By the end of November 1917, large quantities of M-1917 helmets became available for the United States Army.

The M-1917 helmet was very similar to the British Mk. I helmet. The helmet was basically an inverted bowl stamped out of a single piece of manganese alloy, which was made up of 13 percent manganese and was .036" thick. This differed from the British helmet, as the Mk. I helmet was made up of 12 percent manganese. Thus ballistically, the M-1917 helmet increased protection for the wearer by 10 percent over the British Mk. I helmet, and could withstand a .45 caliber pistol bullet traveling at 600 feet per second fired at a distance of 10 feet. A rim was spot welded to the edge of the steel bowl, with the ends butted, as opposed to lapped, which was done on the British Mk. I helmet. Riveted to the steel bowl were two flexible guiding loops for the chin strap. Here again, the U.S. M-1917 helmet differed from the British Mk. I helmet. On the U.S. helmet the loops were secured by solid machined rivets, whereas the British Mk. I helmet used split rivets. An adjustable leather chin strap was riveted to the steel bowl and consisted of two halves, each joined together by metal loops which were secured to the ends of the leather halves by steel split rivets. Also riveted to the steel bowl was the helmet lining. The lining was also similar to that of the British Mk. I helmet and consisted of a number of items described below:

The lining was woven of cotton twine in meshes three-eighths of an inch square. This web, fitting tightly upon the wearer's head, evenly distributed the weight of the two-pound helmet, and in the same way distributed the force of any blow upon the helmet. The netting, together with the small pieces of rubber around the edge of the lining, kept the helmet away from the head, so that even a relatively large dent could not reach the wearer's skull.

The linings of the U.S. M-1917 helmet were produced by 10 shoe manufacturing companies. The lining, as mentioned above, consisted of cotton twine mesh surrounded by a circular piece of leather that held tubular pieces of rubber, and the mesh was covered by a piece of black oil cloth. Sandwiched between the lining and the steel bowl was also a piece of felt.

The steel for the M-1917 helmet was rolled by the American Sheet and Tin Plate Company. The steel was then pressed and stamped into its bowl shape by seven companies, which were: Edward G. Budd Manufacturing Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Sparks, Withington Company, Jackson, Michigan; Crosby Company, Buffalo, New York; Bossett Corporation, Utica, New York; Columbian Enameling & Stamping Company, Terre Haute, Indiana; Worchester Pressed Steel Company, Worchester, Massachusetts; and Benjamin Electric Company, Des Plaines, Illinois. The steel was stamped with an austenite heat number and shipment number, which were used to identify the quality of steel and shipment lots. The metal helmets and woven linings were delivered to the plant of the Ford Motor Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, were they were painted and assembled. To make the outside surface of the helmet anti-glare, the helmets were first painted, then fine sawdust was blown on the wet paint, and finally the helmet was painted again. To increase protective properties the helmets were painted in an olive drab shade.

During the fall of 1917 production was begun on the M-1917 helmets. By the end of November 1917, the first deliveries of large quantities of M-1917 helmets were being made to the United States Army. On 17 February 1918, approximately 700,000 M-1917 helmets had been produced. As United States involvement in World War I increased, the U.S. Army placed additional orders for the M-1917 helmet. By July 1918 orders for the M-1917 helmet reached 3,000,000, in August 6,000,000, and in September 7,000,000. In November 1918, when hostilities ended and American production was ordered to cease, U.S. Manufacturers had produced a total of 2,707,237 M-1917 helmets.