BACKGROUND: The Pickelhaube was designed by Friedrich Wilhelm IV and adopted by the Prussia Army in 1842. It was first worn on active duty in 1849, during the suppression of an uprising in the south-west German state of Baden. That state itself adopted a variation of the Pickelhaube not long after. The helmet was modified several times, mostly as a result of field experience garnered during the Austro-Prussian and Franco-Prussian wars. By 1886, the Pickelhaube was the standard form of headdress adopted by the German army. Although dominated by Prussia, the separate German states maintained their identity through their distinctive helmet plates.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: A crowned, Prussian heraldic eagle, which grasps an orb in one talon with "FR" (for "Friedrich Rex") upon its breast, and, upon a scroll extending across its upswept wings, "Mit Gott Für Koenig und Vaterland" (With God for King and Fatherland). Both original attachment prongs are present to the reverse.