jocktamson

Thanks all who posted their opinions. I decided against bidding on it....£212 quid.....ouch!

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Thanks for that Simon. a nice piece of detective work.

I think there are still bargains to be had on eBay...theres just so much fakes around it puts me off bidding for something like this when i dont know enough about it. Anyone got any thoughts on the WD stamp inside..?

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Hi Mike....Would love to see a photo of the completed bust when its finished?

Thanks Mervyn.... Found it.

Yes he's definitely a Gordon Highlander, and as the previous posts said hes also a bandsman, he's wearing a dirk which would suggest he is probably a piper. Although borrowing other pieces of kit from friends was common when having a photo taken, he could have borrowed the dirk from a fellow bandsman to make him look a bit more flashy.

Hi Timothy, I couldnt say for sure what colour it is, I am going by the overall colour of the doublet which looks to me much darker than the helmet....and in comparison to the original posted photo of the helmet, thats almost black looking in the photograph. Jock.

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Nice find coldstream...this is only the second photograph ive ever come across showing this cover in use.

Ive just discovered this thread Mervyn, I missed it somehow. These are fantastic artifacts. Enjoyed the part about King Goodwill.

Indeed it is Mervyn...us scots cant do without somewhere to keep our haggis safe ;)

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It looks like the shadow from the puggaree to me Stuart... but damn would i love to find out it was elastic! Jock

A few weeks ago on receiving this helmet i showed it to a friend who works in the conservation field and in particular military artifact conservation, here's his observations on the helmet. Stuart suggested i post his thoughts on it. On showing the helmet to him a few weeks ago , he immediately said he thought the elastic looked out of place. His thoughts on the cover/neck piece were the overall colour of both pieces and the wear was consistent and suggested both are probably original and not put together. He was surprised on examination of the stitching around the elastic, it showed no sign of being re-stitched as there was no break in the original thread where it could be stitched in as a replacement. ( I posted this info last week, it was his observation not mine ). ... so either the elastic was original to the neck cover or the whole lot was a repro/fake. He then posed this question... if the cover and neck piece were a deliberate fake and obviously they are very well made, whoever made it must have researched the construction, because everything else is correct, why then draw attention to it by using elastic which everyone assumes is a modern 20th century material, when a simple khaki cotton tie would have been the obvious thing to use and in keeping with the period of the helmet. He came to the conclusion either the helmet/neck cover were damn good reproductions or the whole lot was period with the helmet including the elastic, but with not a lot of service use or possibly matched with the helmet later.A couple of days ago I put Stuarts suggestion to him, it was a Royal Navy helmet, he had completely missed the link to the Navy with the maker being in Portsmouth and agreed with Stuart that its a Royal Navy private purchase, and suggested in which case everything could have been ordered together and elastic might just have been the buyers preferred choice of tie, its an unusual choice but not impossible.

Thanks Stuart....your a star! this is exactly what i am looking for.

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WOW... Fantastic results guys, i dabble a bit with photoshop, but this is quite impressive.

Les is correct, there is absolutely nothing you can do to reverse natural aging and deterioration of the fibres in old leather, I have a friend who is head conservator in Kelvingrove Art Galleries & Museum in Glasgow, his advice is to leave old leather alone, for anyone who needs to display something thats already deteriorating use a reproduction and keep the original safe especially anything that might be of historical importance. Anything thats dried out or has flaking and cracking of the surface is past restoring, its already lost its natural oils. all you can do is keep it away from hot dry conditions, and try not to handle it too often. Using neatsfoot and other preservation oil products may appear to work superficially by softening and making the leather pliable again, what its actually doing is soaking into already damaged fibres deteriorating them and stretching the fibres further, which on the surface makes it seem more pliable, the more often you use it the quicker the leather deteriorates, eventually leading to a failure in the fibres and consequently a break. All these products are made to preserve and seal leathers that have not lost their natural oils not to replace them. He also says never use Saddle Soap as it clogs the pores of the tanned surface of the leather and stops the leather breathing naturally. Saddle Soap is also Alkaline and that actually damages leather, back when they had no other means to soften new leather, saddle soap was the only alternative, its definitely not meant to restore depleted natural oils in old leather. So unless its a last gasp attempt to save something thats not historically important and crumbling to dust anyway, its best left alone.

I do agree, Hogspear does seem a reputable seller. I dont even mind the bargains so much, I am happy to pay a fair price for something from eBay, its the bare faced lying that goes on when you ask some sellers for info, thats what gets me.

Its one of the few exceptional buys i've made from eBay Simon....but I've bought a fair amount of junk over the years as well, I started looking on eBay in 1999 when a friend put me onto it, the amount of really nice militaria showing up was fantastic...by 2002 it was going down hill as the repro mob had discovered eBay was a quick way to fleece everyone ( and they are still doing it today ). The Hogspear buy was just a once in a lifetime find, I expected a flood of bidders at the end and it never happened for some reason. I'll get around to posting some photos eventually. I am afraid, looking at Stuarts collection of helmets puts my paltry dozen or so well into the shade! Jock.

I did indeed Stuart, whats more is I would have had it for £800 apart from a snipe bid in the closing seconds, only three of us bid on it...Its definitely the best buy Ive ever made.

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