Old Tommy style Tin Hats
I today purchased from a car boot sale an old “Tommy” type tin hat. It was painted in a very rough grey paint, which I suspect is not original as the paint under the headliner inside is more of a stale khaki! It is a bit rusty (who wouldn’t be?!) and the leather is very stiff. I have looked on the web and seen various bits of correspondence, but I still cannot date it very well.
It has the folded edge, and it has 16 small holes around the bowl of the helmet with some very old bits of string which clearly were used to secure the inner lining. This lining comprises some 4 looped ¾” wide webbing straps attached in eight places to a single leather band which has some rubber pads between it and the inside of the helmet. There are the remains of a “boot-lace” which I presume was used to tighten these webbing straps and the inner lining to stop your head touching the inside of the helmet?
The only markings I can find are:
At one end of the helmet (the underside) , is an “M” – might that be the size, or were they all the same?
At the other underside end I can just make out the letters “V M 5” and, separately a “1”.
Does this give enough clues for someone who knows such things to tell me how old this helmet is? I’d guess it was either quite early in view of the relative simplicty or else it was a cheap civilian model!
I’d be very grateful for any assistance.
Bodhranist
.
Re: Old Tommy style Tin Hats
Bookmarks