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, with Bavaria being the last state to do so. Although dominated by Prussia, the separate German states maintained their identity through their distinctive helmet plates.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: The alloy helmet plate depicts two crowned lions, facing away from one another, grasping and to either side of a crowned, vertical oval, with the State Arms of Bavaria within it. A scroll beneath reads "In Treue Fest" (In Loyalty Steadfast). The plate is significantly curved, obviously following the contours of the Pickelhaube it was originally fixed to. To its hollow-backed reverse are soldered attachment loops behind each lion. Distance between each attachment loop is roughly 50mm. Nice original wappen.