WW1 Gaede helmet real or fake?

[Kaikun2001]

There is a Gaede helmet selling online, is it real?

[AndyM35]

Hi Patrick,

I know very little about these other than them being representative of the initial attempts to design a more protective piece of head wear for German troops stationed in the mountainous area around the Vosages. With a reported manufacture of only 1050, any surviving examples would be exceedingly rare and any for sale should be regarded with great caution. It’s quite rare to see M16 square dip helmets (the first of the regular M16 helmets) and there were 30,000 of those manufactured, so you can get an idea of how rare these are.

Regarding the example in your photos, compared to the examples I’ve seen, this oneis missing the slots on the rear sides in which a leather strap was positioned for holding the helmet in place. As I said, I know little about these but this one not having the rear slots would seem at odds when compared to the known examples unless there was a revision in the strap/liner system. The helmet appears to have patina and age but these things can be replicated by fakers.

Personally, I wouldn’t leap into anything like this without doing a lot of thorough research. Below are some images from the example held in the Imperial War Musuem in London to which all images are copyright.

Andy