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New M1881 dress helmet--enlisted light mounted artillery


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cannon jockey

This is my first show and tell.   I have wanted an M1881 helmet for a long time and especially one that would be artillery related since I served as an artillery F.O, F.D.O., A.EX.O, and B.C. all in the single year of 1969 in Vietnam.   I scored this primo example in a recent online live auction and was surprised that I got it for what I consider to be a fairly low bid.   The auctioneers claimed it to be all original and quite well preserved.   It was made by Wm H. Horstmann & Co and shows a contract date on the inside of the sweatband under their Philadelphia address of Nov 29th, 1897.   It's a all felt molded enlisted version and while the sweatband seems to indicate that the helmet saw some use, it was evidently well taken care of. 

 

 

The only real indication of age is dried condition of the patent leather band, chin strap, and helmet edging.  It also has whet I think is the original patent leather chinstrap although it's appears to be quite fragile and not up to any use or much handling. 

 

 

The over all tarnish of the various brass pieces appears to be consistent throughout with no variation in condition to indicate being a pieced together helmet.  The ball on the plume holder had a black spot which I polished out, so it shines a bit more than the rest.   I removed the crossed cannon side buttons, which showed light verdigris underneath due to touching the leather bands I guess.   The chin strap seemed almost glued to the main leather band so I didn't try to put it away for fear of tearing it.   I did apply a little Fiebing's leather conditioner judiciously with a Q-tip to the leather surfaces to hopefully strengthen the fibers and conserve them a bit better.

 

 

The size tag is still present on the sweatband although the size number is worn off.  It's the black dot seen at  the rear of the band.   However, at a certain angle one can still see the impression of the numeral indicating a size 7.   The front plate is seems to be secured with two pieces of rawhide simply threaded through the wire loops.  I have no idea if this was a common method of securing the front plate. 

 

Since it also has the mounting rings on each side of the plume socket base, I am assuming that at one time it had or was intended to have helmet and chest cords.   I have ordered a set reproduction red cords from S & S.   They are supposedly made with worsted wool like the originals so I hope they will do while I keep an eye out for an original set.

 

The numeral one would of course indicate the 1st regiment of artillery and since only mounted troops wore plumes, one would assume this helmet belong to a unit of light horse or mounted field artillery.

 

I found this storied history of the 1st and many officers who served with the regiment during the Mexican war and went on to become noted officers during the ACW.   

 

Link:   History of the 1st regiment of Artillery

 

 Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson being one most would know.   Two batteries of the 1st were moved to Fort Sumpter just in time to answer the first Confederate shots of the war.

 

After war the 1st regiment spent most of it years in the latter half of the 19th century on the east coast missing all the action on the western frontier.

 

Please feel free to comment on or make corrections to any thing I've said or speculated on.   I'm pretty thick skinned.

 

 

Cheers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Thanks for sharing! I've never seen one of these! It is a beauty and looks to be in amazing shape. Is it a horse tail? 

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cannon jockey

Yes, it's dyed horse hair.   I've read that dyed Yak tails (hair) was sometimes used for officer helmets but then since they were private purchase, the materials used were generally finer.

The 1881 helmet was a modified replacement for the M1872 and remained in service until 1904.   These types of helmets were all inspired by European military designs--mostly of German military origin---especially after they came out on top of the Franco-Prussian war  (1870-1871).    By the start of the 20th century the US had started to adopt more traditional bell crown visor caps for formal wear.

 

Cheers

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cannon jockey

Here's a couple of more shots showing my two new "upgrades".   First is the addition of the reproduction hat hat/tunic cords.  They do look a bit too new but I'm hesitant to do anything about it.   

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From the side they look darker and less new.  It must be from the back lighting.

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The second item is an clear acrylic cover I found on Amazon.  This will really keep the dust off and is supposed to add UV protection.  These don't come with a base so they are lower priced that those that do.  The Amazon seller had several sizes.  This was 12 by 12 by 18 inches which was perfect. 

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Cheers

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Very nice!  Now there are all those other branches that you artillery boys support....... You really have a great start in the dress helmet line.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Nice helmet, I'm still after one myself (looking for a Heavy Artillery example). Finding them with the chinstrap is tough! 

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cannon jockey
On 1/13/2021 at 9:05 AM, huntssurplus said:

That's awesome! I want to know what's the story behind those samurai helmets in the background though....

 

Hunt

No story really,   Only the helmet in the center is even full size and it's a Paul Chen repro.   The rest are half scale solid cast iron and brass decorative Kabuto helmets that were imported from Japan.   My first ex-wife used to be a partner in an antique business with her best friend back in the 1980s.  Around that time, I was collection WWII stuff and had acquired a nice officers Samurai sword (arsenal blade) plus a WWII helmet and bayonet.   

 

The next thing I know she brings home these decorative pieces representing 16th century helmets thinking I was into anything related to Japan.   We put them on a bookshelf and the next thing I know she keeps finding them and bringing more home.   I didn't have the heart to tell her to stop.

 

Anyway, she's long gone now and I still have the helmets so I put some out on a side table along with a few appropriately framed cheap prints of 16th century Samurai hanging on the wall behind.

 

Cheers

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