Author Archives: Roland Gruschka

The Ugly Duckling Or The Transformation Into a Beautiful Bird – With A Name.

The helmet as bought.

The helmet described in this article had been on offer on a certain internet auction platform at the UK for at least two years, headlined as “Vintage Pith Helmet World War 1 WW1 British Army First Please see photo” – The seller´s hint to see the photo first made sense: Many collectors probably have clicked to open the page and closed it immediately after having seen a helmet, filled with yellow foam – besides being offered at a price that was anything but a bargain.  Continue reading →

A Cork Indian/Aden Pattern Helmet

While the term “pith helmet” is used to describe almost all sun helmets, the actual use of “sola pith” material is generally only seen in the construction of helmets made in Asia, including India and the Far East. One of the more popular – and high end – examples of Indian-made sun helmets is the “Cawnpore Tent Club Helmet,” which is noted for its shape and more importantly the quilted linen covering.

All of the examples encountered to date have been made of pith, but recently one has been discovered at a flea market in Munich, Germany, and this example was made of cork. Continue reading →

A Mysterious Neck Curtain – Finally Unveiled

NC1Neck flaps or neck curtains to be attached on a sun helmet are much rarer to find than any kind of helmet itself. No wonder one tries to get hold on any flap that comes along. Like the one that is the subject of this article. Now, this example but turned out to be something completely different, than a piece of military equipment. But – nevertheless – it is interesting to learn more about it. Continue reading →

Another Indian Wolseley

Pith Wolseley Title

Wolseley helmets made of sola pith are indeed rare things. One was described on this website and Chis Mills has shown one in his book*. My reason for presenting a third one now is that it offers some more and different detail, which might give some clues to the circumstances and time of its manufacturing and indeed, proof of its use as a military helmet.

Continue reading →

How to Repair a Damaged Pith Helmet

Titel

The collapse of the very top of the dome is a common “disease” amongst sun helmets made from that light material, pith. In this respect, it does not matter, if a particular helmet had had an adventurous life or was never taken out of his transport tin.  The damage described above is often due to a weak point in the construction.  This article shows a way to repair or at least stabilize a damaged helmet – before it gets completely “puzzled” – by using techniques borrowed from bookbinding. Continue reading →

Red Fabric as Sun Protection

TitelOn this website, articles had been published about all kinds of inventions and patents that aimed to increase a sun helmet’s protection against heat. There were many kinds of different ventilation systems, double domes, aluminium foil or spine pads as a prolongation of neck flaps for the back. Now, one more idea was unwillingly and unintentional discovered by moths, that ate pieces of a helmet produced by Tress in London for Abercrombie & Fitch in New York. That is red fabric. Continue reading →

Sun Helmets in Adverts

adverts-featuring-sun-helme

Sun helmets can be found on many contemporary adverts of military outfitters or civilian hatters that manufactured such helmets for military personal. This article shows some different adverts. They do not present the sun helmet itself as a ware, but uses its significance as an icon for an exotic surrounding or to create an image of bygone circumstances. A small study in helmets and marketing methods. Continue reading →