Italy - Model 1887 Pith Helmet

[Peter_Suciu]

Here is a recent addition to my collection. An Italian Model 1887 Pith Helmet.

[JimZ]

Hi Peter,

Very nice!!! Any chance you can post pics of the inside of the helmet? Does the helmet have its original chin strap?

Jim

[Peter_Suciu]

The chinstrap is long gone unfortunately. The liner is very similiar to the later Model 1928 pith helmets, which were the type used in North Africa including the invasion of Ethiopia and later in WWII.

[JimZ]

1935 picture of the Italians in Ethiopia

Hi Peter,

Thanks for the detail of the inside. Although the liner remained the same, it looks like the shape of the pith helmet itself changed to one with a wider profile thus affording the soldier more cover from the sun.

I was half hoping you'd catch the inside detail of the Rosette/badge (with the italian flag) to see whether this was sewn on or somehow clipped on. Do you have the later type helmet as well?

Jim

[Peter_Suciu]

Thanks for the detail of the inside. Although the liner remained the same, it looks like the shape of the pith helmet itself changed to one with a wider profile thus affording the soldier more cover from the sun.

I was half hoping you'd catch the inside detail of the Rosette/badge (with the italian flag) to see whether this was sewn on or somehow clipped on. Do you have the later type helmet as well?

Hi Jim--I've really gotten in pith helmets in the last two years. I have been trying to get them from around the world. I just posted my Imperial German pith helmet in that section today as well.

OK, the rosette is sewn on. There is some extra thread as someone had sewn on a badge at some later date. The threads are now intermixed so I don't want to risk removing anything. It is hard to tell in the photos but in the sun I can see two types of thread. Basically I believe that some of the early Italian helmets didn't have a badge. there is no hole suggesting a badge was ever one. This is the early style Cockade/Rosette and it seems to have been on the helmet forever. The badge is from the 1940s, but the thread used is cotton, so who knows when it was added or for what reason.

The shape was based on the British pattern, and as the British changed their helmets it seems that so did everyone else. Here is my Model 1928 pith helmet. This badge is attached with the clips. I'm always looking out for other pith helmets including Italian!