Prussian M1871 Artillery Pickelhaube

Here is a new weekly (hopefully) feature that I am calling “German hat of the week!” Each week (I will try) I will post a different hat or helmet from my collection of German headwear. The plan is to post them in chronological order and provide a bit of a narrative.
It is fitting then that the first helmet here dates from the very beginning of the German Empire in 1871.

The German Empire was founded in January 1871 when independent German states, joined the North German Confederation to form a new country with Wilhelm I, King of Prussia as its monarch and Otto Von Bismarck as Chancellor and Berlin, its capital. Although Prussia was one of several kingdoms in the realm, it contained about two thirds of Germany's population and territory. The existing armies of Bavaria, Saxony and Württemberg remained semi-autonomous with their own distinct identities up until WW1, while the Prussian Army assumed control over the armies of all the other states.

This helmet is an early Prussian example of the famous Pickelhaube. These are more often seen with a spike on the top, but as this one is for an artillery officer, it has a brass ball on top instead, to represent a cannon ball. It is made of hardened leather with Brass fittings. These helmets were first used in 1842 and stayed in use until World War One when it was soon discovered that the Pickelhaube did not measure up to the new conditions of trench warfare. The leather helmets offered little protection against shell fragments and shrapnel and the shiny brass ball made its wearer a target. Covers were provided to cover up the helmet and In September 1915 it was ordered that the helmets were to be worn without spikes or ball when in the front line. Soon after that their use was limited to ceremonial uses away from the battlefield when new steel helmets were introduced in 1916.