Jump to content

M1881 General Officer's Summer Dress Helmet


tsakers85
 Share

Recommended Posts

I saw this helmet at an opening reception this evening in a national museum. I cannot find any reference to rank insignia being applied to helmet eagles. Also, that star looks 20th century. Thoughts?

 

post-10442-0-63276200-1568376985_thumb.jpg

post-10442-0-65479900-1568376994_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

US Regs said no insignia was to be worn on white helmets. Xed rifles indicates Infantry branch. I notice also that the eagle has painted details. Never saw that before. I am wondering if this is a state militia piece.

 

Metal GO stars like this were not made that early. Stars were typically embroidered and worn on shoulder straps only. Later metal stars were typically false embroidered style - early 1900's.

 

G

Link to comment
Share on other sites

US Regs said no insignia was to be worn on white helmets. Xed rifles indicates Infantry branch. I notice also that the eagle has painted details. Never saw that before. I am wondering if this is a state militia piece.

 

Metal GO stars like this were not made that early. Stars were typically embroidered and worn on shoulder straps only. Later metal stars were typically false embroidered style - early 1900's.

 

G

 

Gil, you highlighted what I was thinking about the star as well. In addition to the infantry crossed rifles, it also has light blue infantry side buttons. The color details looked like French enamel, but it could also just be paint.

 

The accession number indicates the helmet was purchased for the museum in 2002. I'm not certain it's actually a general officer helmet.

 

Also, I didn't think general officers wore helmets. Wasn't the chapeau reserved for them and staff officers at this point?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

This reminds of a bright white felt 1902 style general officers cap that was on the forum a few years ago. I have not been able to find it. Even had the gold embroidered oak leaves around the sides as well as the bill. The consensus it was a band hat. The quality made be think it might actually be a non regulation generals hat. A year later I came across a full color image of General Nelson Miles in full parade dress wearing the exact same style of hat so much so I wondered if it might not be his.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

Here's a Model 1872 helmet purportedly belonging to Nelson Miles complete with non-regulation metal General Stars, there's no written provenance attached besides the helmet itself. What do you guys think?
https://historical.ha.com/itm/military-and-patriotic/medal-of-honor-moh-winner-nelson-a-miles-personally-owned-dress-helmet/a/6229-40317.s?ic4=GalleryView-Thumbnail-071515

Link to comment
Share on other sites

27 minutes ago, daniel griffin said:

That helmet was sold at Morphy Auction, listed as a fake - which it is. From the Ray Bentley collection, which had hundreds of caps with famous names embossed on their sweatbands. 

https://auctions.morphyauctions.com/LotDetail.aspx?inventoryid=452938

I thought I saw this thing before, that would make sense. I haven't read much about Ray Bentley, were all those fake caps from his collection? I thought they were from another, I've seen a few at local military shows, and none of the embossing looks anything close to period.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

daniel griffin

Yes, all of the caps were from his collection, as were brief cases and binocular cases - all with gold embossed names. Patton, Eisenhower, Montgomery, aces, Medal of Honor awardees, he had them all. There was a Theodore Roosevelt top hat in the group, sold as a fake, resold at Heritage Auction for $50,000.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, daniel griffin said:

Yes, all of the caps were from his collection, as were brief cases and binocular cases - all with gold embossed names. Patton, Eisenhower, Montgomery, aces, Medal of Honor awardees, he had them all. There was a Theodore Roosevelt top hat in the group, sold as a fake, resold at Heritage Auction for $50,000.

That's some really great insight, thank you. He seemed like a fascinating character, I haven't met too many people who knew Bentley. Sounds like he should've bought a few more fake top hats.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...