Helmet Of The Horse-mounted Gendarmes, Model 1912, Third Republic. 27810

HELMET OF A TROOPE OF HORSE-HORSED GENDARMES, model 1912, Third Republic. 27810Helmet composed of: a bomb; a visor; a neck cover; a headband; two chinstraps; a crest; a mane; a plume holder and an interior trim.The bomb, in one piece, in sheet brass, stamped with a balance wheel, planed with a hammer and polished with a brush. It is pierced at the top with three suction holes (diameter 15 mm). Bomb hallmarked on the back with the manufacturer "BERNARD FRANCK & FILS - AUBERVILLIERS" and "56".The visor, also in sheet brass, is inclined at 53 degrees below a horizontal plane passing through the junction of the visor and the bomb. It is bordered by an 18 mm wide nickel silver circle placed astride its edges and fixed by five rivets. The underside of the visor is lacquered dark green. The neck cover, also made of brass sheet, concave, forming a groove, with rounded corners and welded inside, has two nickel silver nails with half-spherical heads (diameter 8 mm) riveted inside. Like the visor, the neck cover is bordered by an 18 mm wide copper setting placed astride. The underside of the neck cover is lacquered dark green. The headband, made of nickel silver, stamped with a flaming grenade surrounded by laurel leaves, is adhered to the bomb. Its base rests on the visor and its ends are riveted with a bomb in the part hidden by the rosette of the chin strap. Each chin strap is composed of 15 nickel silver scales cut alternately with three or two festoons, which decrease in width from the top one which is 3.4 cm, to the last one which is only 2.1 cm. These scales are fixed by wire crampons, flattened on a leather core lined with black sheepskin. The right chin strap is trimmed at its end with a small brass buckle. At the end of the left one there is a similar D-shaped brass buckle trimmed with a black patent calfskin girth strap. The upper scale of each chinstrap is hallmarked "A" and embossed in one piece, at its end a circular rosette (diameter 4.9 cm) representing a lion's head framed by a triple baguette of which the central one is pearled. The bomb is surmounted by a copper crest composed of two fins, a nickel silver mask. The fins, placed vertically at a distance from each other of 3.2 cm in front and 2.5 cm behind, have the shape of a curvilinear triangle convex at its upper part and which connects with the bomb by its concave base forming a scalloped edge. This edge is fixed to the bomb by means of two nickel silver screws with round heads in a drop of tallow which are stopped inside the helmet by square copper nuts. The fins are decorated with acanthus leaves and palmettes and a molding representing two laurel branches with a palmette in the center; the edge is decorated with water leaves, all stamped in relief. A tinned sheet metal plate joins the upper edges of the fins, fixing the spacing. The mask, serving as an anterior junction of the two fins by means of a weld, is stamped with a Medusa head in relief. A mane of black-tinted horsehair is cut in a brush and finished with a floating tail. It is mounted on a sole of strong, nourished cowhide, in which the horsehair is assembled in tinned brass wires with a piece of sheepskin glued with strong glue on the assembly. The mane is fixed to the crest by two copper screws with nuts. H about 6 cm, length about 50 cm. A stamped nickel silver plume holder, H 3.4 cm, forming a socket, is attached obliquely, from bottom to top, to the bomb, a little in front of the left chinstrap, by means of two threaded rods passing through the bomb. The interior trim consists of: a turban and a headdress. The turban is made of felt, in one piece, attached by means of two chinstrap counter-plates, one unsoldered but present. The headdress is made of glossy brown sheepskin, cut with wolf teeth (7 teeth), each trimmed with a metal eyelet. France. Third Republic. Good condition, some flaking to the paint on the inside of the visor and the neck cover, light blows to the spray and on the visor bead, some losses to the horsehair on the edges of the brush