Posted 8 years ago
JoeA
(1 item)
Found this helmet in my grandmother's attic. I wondered about the history. It appears to be a dress helmet and has a spike and floret in the style of American Calvary helmets of the 1880's. Any Ideas?
Helmet with a spike | ||
| Military and Wartime2217 of 7283 |  |  |
never seen something like this. Probably made up.
the spike and the floret on the top is exactly like some of the historical helmets I have seen but the metal seems to have been chromed on brass or bronze at one point... the helmet is not made of steel.
looks like some type of Fraternal Organization helmet?
From the 1870s to 1920s, clubs with exotic costumes, titles and rituals were all the rage
http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/18e6977c51a7945926439864b531d788799644c8/c=50-0-835-591&r=x404&c=534x401/local/-/media/2015/10/09/DetroitNews/DetroitNews/635800110680247702-Knights-of-pythias-mason.jpg
Not US military. Some additional photos of the interior/ labels/ side buttons may be helpful.
scott
Battlegear.... now the Fraternal Organization could be a possibility but my Grandmother and my uncles as well as the rest of my relatives were a pretty conservative no frills bunch. My uncles were members of the Masons... and that is about as exotic and far out as they got. They were all farmers in East Texas and not prone to giddy costumes.
I have a New York State Militia "pith" helmet from 1881 with the exactly the same top spike. A badge on the front says: EXELSIOR over an eagle. Yours could be a dress helmet used for parade. I don't know if this helps, but if your grandparents lived in New York, it would be a good place to start.