Item ended: WW1 British / Australian Brodie Pattern Steel Helmet Mk.I (ANZAC - AIF) – 1916 (details below)

WW1 British / Australian Brodie Pattern Steel Helmet Mk.I (ANZAC - AIF) – 1916

$798.98
Listing ended Sun, February 5, 5:25 am EST

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A ‘MUSEUM QUALITY’ ORIGINAL BRITISH MANUFACTURED, AUSTRALIAN USED FIRST WORLD WAR BRODIE HELMET, STEEL, Mk.I PRODUCED BY HADFIELDS LTD IN 1916 AND FITTED WITH ITS ORIGINAL LINING AND CHINSTRAP. THE HELMET IS FINISHED IN ITS ORIGINAL WARTIME KHAKI TEXTURED PAINT. This is a superb ‘museum quality’ example of a British manufactured Brodie Pattern Helmet, Steel, Mk.I manufactured by the Hadfields Ltd in 1916. The helmet is still fitted with its original Mk.I helmet liner and chinstrap and is almost certainly one of those issued to Australian Troops during World War 1. As Michael J Haselgrove & Branislav Radovic describe (P. 194) in their excellent reference ‘Helmets of the First World War’ describe; ‘All demobilised British (and Commonwealth) troops were allowed to keep a helmet as a souvenir’ of their service. This particular example was purchased from a local collector in Canberra. As Roger Lucy describes in his very informative article on First war Brodie Helmets, Britain began to examine the need for a trench helmet in June 1915. Experiments were made with early French Adrian helmets, but the design adopted was one submitted to the British War Office by an inventor with a very chequered history, John Leopold Brodie. Brodie's helmet design was one that could easily stamped from Managnese steel with the pressing technology of the time, and offered good protection from descending projectiles. It went into series production in October, 1915. With the exception of the first 4,440, produced in mild steel, it was made of non-magnetic manganese steel. A superb Australian War Memorial (AWM) picture is also attached of the 26th Battalion of the 6th Brigade AIF, just arrived in France from Egypt in 1916, holding their newly issued Helmet, Steel, Mk.I’s on the end of their rifles. A number of similar helmets are held in the collection of the AWM, the most famous being the one worn by Sergeant W E Brown VC DCM, 20 Battalion, AIF. That helmet which is listed as item REL/00985.001 can be viewed at: http://cas.awm.gov.au/item/REL/00985.001. This particular example is one of those produced after a number of changes were approved in April, 1916 to the original design. These included fitting a mild (magnetic) steel rim and larger lugs with wire loops to the body. A new lining was designed, comprising a top pad of fire retardant material, lint and felt, attached by a copper rivet to the interior of the helmet body along with a leather strap. The strap ends were riveted to hold a basil (reddish brown) leather headband, padded with cotton wool and covered by lint and canvas. Twelve tubular rubber buffers were inserted around the edge of the head. To the headband was sewn a crown made of America Cloth, it had no tongues, instead, an adjustable cotton net fitted it to the wearer's head. The ends of leather strap, which attached the lining to the top of the helmet body, were riveted to two small brass wire loops, to which were riveted, in turn, the ends of a one piece leather chin strap with a plated steel slide buckle. The linked straps passed through larger brass wire loops attached to the chinstrap lugs. In September, 1916, this modified helmet received the designation Helmet, Steel, Mk.I As these changes were phased-in between April and September, 1916, combinations of old and new features can be found on helmets manufactured in this period. The helmet bodies were marked by large letters and digits stamped on the brim to indicate the steel maker and lot number. This example is stamped with the makers code HS 148 which indicates that this Mk I was produced by the Hadfields Ltd during its production run in late 1916. The Linings (made by the Army and Navy Stores, in which Mr Brodie had an interest) were marked BRODIES STEEL HELMET Registered No 65199 WAR OFFICE PATTERN PATENT No.11803/16, this example has a very clear stamp in red inside the lining. Some 7.5 million Mk.I helmets were produced during the war. This particular example is still finished in its original khaki textured painted finish which is patinated consistent with age and use. The original Mk.I helmet lining, which is in excellent, and the leather chinstrap, now snapped, are still present. The helmet has not been restored. This British manufactured Australian sourced First World War Helmet, Steel, Mk.I is an outstanding ‘museum quality’ example of its type. The textured paint finish is particularly good and while the helmet has clearly seen use it’s patina is only improved by it. I thought that the last 'Brodie' I had listed was good but this is better. If you only want the best this superb and original example of a genuine Australian sourced WW1 ‘Brodie’ is it. POSTAGE: I don't charge more than the actual cost of shipping so what you pay is what it costs.