Peter_Suciu

Very nice Leigh! Quite an interesting regiment, I must say.

Don't throw it away. Worse case do you have a young relative that would like to play with it? I imagine any 10-year old boy would love to play Army with that helmet.

Thank you Tony, and yes they did form the 21st SAS. Interesting history. I had known this helmet was for sale for more than a year, but when I was in London I was able to see some of the collection of the Middleset Volunteer Rifle Corp at the National Army Museum in Chelsea, which included numerous paintings of the regiment by members of the regiment. The Artists Rifles were actually made up of painters, writers, poets, etc. So as a writer/journalist this was always a helmet I wanted. But seeing the paintings in the museum convinced me... and the final straw was that the museum had the book, "A History of the Artists Rifles: 1859-1947" by Barry Gregory. So enough said, I had to buy the helmet!

I've wanted a nice cavalry helmet for a while. I'm very happy with this one from the 5th (the Princess Charlotte of Wales's) Regiment of Dragoon Guards. I need to take some better photos, but these helmets have such a reflection!

This is a new addition to the collection. An other ranks helmet of the 20th Middlesex Volunteers (The Artists Rifles).

The original helmet is a MkII, but as has been suggested the liner is post-war and could be from anywhere. I would suggest Greece as a possibility, but I wouldn't rule out Belgium. The "Turtleshell" in the photo is also a MkIV not a MkIII. The MkIII features a screw system similar to the MkII, while the MkIV has the same basic shell but a "lift the dot" type liner attachment. Also the MkIII features a higher placement of the chinstrap rivet. Compare the rivet placement in the shells: My MkIII: My MkIV:

I think you may be correct... frankly I think the helmets were French and South African. I don't know where Dutch came from, except some collector's price guide from the 1970s that I have a memory of said "Afrika Korp helmets made by the Dutch." Where would the Germans have gotten those? I guess there could have been some in Holland, but I find that to be unlikely. There were plenty of unissued German pith helmets so why would they use Dutch helmets, and there were no Dutch colonies in Africa so we can rule out that they were captured in the field. I looked up to see South Africa's role in WWII. Two divisions including the South African 1st Infantry Division and the South African 2nd Infantry Division were in North Africa. It is worth noting that two complete infantry brigades of the 2nd were captured at Tobruk, while the 1st fought at the Battle of El Alamein and was then recalled to South Africa. The South African 6th Armoured Divsion fought in Italy, while the South African 3rd Infantry Division, which was on home defense duty, did send replaces for the 1st and 2nd ID. Additionally one brigade took part in the invasion of Madagascar in 1942. So it does seem possible that a fair amount of pith helmets, if they were used by the 2nd ID could have fallen into German hands in 1941. Interstingly I've never seen one with German plates on it.

Here is a very unique helmet that I recently picked up. This is known as the French Indochina helmet. This style of helmet was based on the French Model 1931 tropical helmet, but is made of a lightweight pressed fiber with a water-proof canvas cover. These were locally produced helmet in French Indochina, and used as private purchase officer's helmets. These feature a plastic liner system, which would be later used with the North Vietnamese Army sun helmets. So these are sort of the "missing link" between the French tropical helmet and the Vietnamese sun helmets... and it is sort of the interesting that the former native army adopted the helmet of the imperialist. This example was made in Saigon, and has a maker's tag from N?n Rang Dong, BVK. The original owner's initials(?) is written in pen: "VAN 3-6-54."

A new addition of mine. Based on the British Wolseley design, the Model 1931 tropical helmet was used throughout the French colonies, including those in Africa, the Middle East, South America, the Pacific and French Indo-China. These helmets were used by both Vichy and Free French Forces in World War II. This examples features the standard marine anchor.

The later version with the khaki color:

Here is an example with the hardware from the Horsehair Plume Dress helmet. This was against regulations, but period photographs suggest it was very common.

A few of my American pith helmets. This is my newest addition. I've never seen such a nice example:

That would be my guess... the man does have a funeral band on his left arm.

Anyone else have any French pith helmets to show? I've really gotten into collecting the pith helmets in the last few years. This is my French Model 1886 Pith Helmet, and it features the insignia of the French Marine Infantry. These helmets were used in various French colonies around the world including Africa. These helmets were also used by the three battalions of the 9th and 11th Marine Infantry that fought in China during the Boxer Rebellion.

Right, I meant the helmet pattern was worn by See Batl., not the plate. Yes, it seems this plate was worn by the East Asian forces. I sure do wish this helmet could tell me it has been.

Hey Chip-- Any idea which units may have worn the plate on my helmet? I just knew that it was worn by III. See Batl., but I didn't know much beyond it. There seems to be little reference material on German helmet badges for their colonial forces. Follow up: My research suggests it is for Imperial colonial forces, and was used by German East Asiatic forces.

Congrats on another great helmet. Here is the Royal Navy Wolseley I picked up recently as well:

Maybe they wanted to scare away the Germans!

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!

Some EM helmets had chinscales. Guard units for example. Could it have been a one-year volunteer officer?

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.

I do believe the German Navy had regular marine units, and this style of helmet was used by their forces in the Far East including China and the Pacific islands. I don't believe this style of helmet was used in SW Africa however. I know pith helmets were used German East Africa, but in German SW Africa the troops used the S?dwester slouch hat. This site has some excellent information: http://www.germancolonialuniforms.co.uk/ And no Red Orchestra lately. I've been too busy, but I'll have to check it out.

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

I'm trying to find a Belgian Pith Helmet from the late Victorian era or WWI era. I've seen so few examples, I was hoping someone might be able to post one or two?

Here is my Belgian WWII helmet. You can see the difference with the lion: