Prussian Pickelhaube with markings (Coblenz) and VIII Armee Korps (Likely 8th Trains)

Prussian Helmet with the national cockade Prussain Helmet with the Prussian cockade

Above: Prussian Enlistedman's issue pickelhaube marked to the VIII Corps

Below: Cover for the pickelhaube

Prussian Enlisted Helmet with the cover

I have had this Pickelhaube, which is marked to the VIII Army Corps and to a manufacturer in Coblenz, for around four decades and always assumed it was Infantry branch, but the 6. Rheinisches Infanterie Regiment Nr. 68 is the only infantry regiment based in Coblenz and it is in the IX Army Corps.  The much more likely possibility is that this Pickelhaube is from the 8th Trains Regiment, from the VIII Army corps.  Pickelhaube from the 8th Trains Regiment are quite common in the USA because US troops occupied this city at the end of WW1.  It is a model 1915 Pickelhaube and it has a brass plate. Typically, 1915 Pickelhaube have all grey steel fittings.  There has been quite a lot of debate about this, and I may well be wrong, but this helmet seems to be unaltered.  It has only two sets of holes for the plate and the helmet and cover are both marked to the Frankenberg and Becker Company of Coblenz. I believe there were hybrid model 1915s with a mixed brass and steel fittings, and I believe this is an example that phenomenon

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All images, research, and text are sole property of Ralph Lovett.