CAVALRY GENDARMES' HELMET, model 1912, Third Republic. 27810

TROOP HELMET FOR HORSE GENDARMES, model 1912, Third Republic. 27810

Helmet composed of: a shell; a visor; a neck guard; a headband; two chin straps; a crest; a mane; a plume holder; and an inner lining.
The shell, made of a single piece of brass sheet, is stamped, planished, and polished. It is pierced at the top with three ventilation holes (diameter 15 mm). The back of the shell is marked with the manufacturer "BERNARD FRANCK & FILS - AUBERVILLIERS" and "56".
The visor, also made of brass sheet, is inclined at 53 degrees below a horizontal plane passing through the junction of the visor and the shell. It is edged with a 18 mm wide nickel silver circle placed on top of its edges and secured with five rivets. The underside of the visor is dark green lacquered.
The neck guard, also made of brass sheet, concave, forming a throat with rounded angles, and welded inside, has two nickel silver nails with hemispherical heads (diameter 8 mm) riveted on the inside. Like the visor, the neck guard is edged with a 18 mm wide copper bezel placed on top.
The underside of the neck guard is dark green lacquered.

The headband, made of nickel silver, is stamped with a flaming grenade surrounded by laurel leaves and is attached to the shell. Its base rests on the visor, and its ends are riveted to the shell in the part covered by the chin strap rosette.

Each chin strap is made up of 15 nickel silver scales alternately cut with three or two scallops, decreasing in width from the top scale that is 3.4 cm, to the last one which is only 2.1 cm wide.
These scales are fixed with flat iron wire studs on a core of black leather lined with black sheepskin. The right chin strap is adorned at its end with a small brass loop. At the end of the left chin strap, there is a similar D-shaped brass loop trimmed with a black varnished calf leather backing.
The top scale of each chin strap is stamped "A" and embossed with a circular rosette at its end (diameter 4.9 cm) depicting a lion's head framed by a triple band, with the central band beaded.
The shell is topped with a copper crest consisting of two finials and a nickel silver mask.
The finials, vertically spaced 3.2 cm apart at the front and 2.5 cm at the back, have a convex curved triangular shape at the top and are connected to the shell by a concave base forming a scalloped edge.
This edge is attached to the shell with two round-drop shaped nickel silver screws secured inside the helmet with square copper nuts. The finials are decorated with acanthus and palm leaf motifs and a molding representing two laurel branches with a central palm leaf; the edge is adorned with water leaves, all embossed in relief.
A tin-plated plate joins the upper edges of the finials, fixing their spacing. The mask serving as the anterior junction of the two finials, with a soldered joint, is embossed with a relief of a Medusa head.
A mane made of black-dyed horsehair is cut into a brush and finished with a floating tail. It is mounted on a sturdy leather sole nourished with cowhide, in which the hair is assembled in tinned brass threads with a sheepskin piece glued with strong glue to the assembly. The mane is attached to the crest with two copper screws and nuts. Height approximately 6 cm, length approximately 50 cm.
A nickel silver plume holder, stamped, 3.4 cm high, forming a sleeve, is obliquely attached, from bottom to top, to the shell, slightly in front of the left chin strap, using two threaded rods passing through the shell.
The inner lining consists of a headband and a cap. The headband is made of felt, in one piece, attached with two chin strap counters. One is detached but present. The cap is made of shiny brown sheepskin, cut with seven scallops, each with a metal eyelet.

France.
Third Republic.
Good condition, some chipping to the paint on the inside of the visor and neck guard, light dents on the shell and visor rim, some hair loss on the edges of the brush.