Few relics of the First World War carry as much symbolic weight as the Pickelhaube – the iconic spiked helmet that came to embody Prussian and German military tradition. This particular example, a Baden Model 1915 Pickelhaube for Enlisted Men of the Infantry (Pickelhaube feldgrau Modell 1915 für Mannschaften Infanterie), bridges the material culture of the Western Front with a remarkable chapter in American commemorative history: the construction of massive helmet pyramids along New York City’s Park Avenue, temporarily rechristened “Victory Way” in 1919.
The Pickelhaube in the Great War
The Pickelhaube was a spiked helmet of leather or metal worn in the 19th and 20th centuries by Prussian and German soldiers of all ranks. Baden adopted the design by 1870. During the early months of the First World War, however, it quickly became apparent that the Pickelhaube was wholly unsuited to the brutal realities of trench warfare. The leather helmets offered little protection against shell fragments and shrapnel, and the conspicuous spike made its wearer a target for enemy fire.
The Model 1915 represented the last iteration of the Pickelhaube before the German military transitioned entirely to steel helmets. In accordance with the 1915 regulations, the new helmets dispensed with the brass, silver, or Tombak fittings that had characterized the earlier M1895. Instead, steel fittings were employed, chemically oxidized to produce a grey, non-reflective surface – the characteristic feldgrau (field grey) finish. All infantry helmets produced before and during 1914 had been made of leather, and the M1915 body continued this tradition, though by 1915 some Pickelhauben were also being constructed from thin sheet steel. Growing material shortages also led to the production of Ersatz Pickelhauben from substitute materials. A key innovation of the Model 1915 was the detachable spike with bayonet fastening mechanism. In September 1915, orders were issued that the new helmets were to be worn without their spikes when in the front line. Beginning in 1916, the Pickelhaube was gradually supplanted by the new German Stahlhelm, designed to offer far superior protection from shell fragments. With the collapse of the German Empire in 1918, the Pickelhaube ceased to be part of the military uniform.
Baden State Distinctions
Different German states employed distinct front plate (Wappen) designs on their Pickelhauben. While Prussia, Bavaria, Württemberg, and Saxony each maintained their own heraldic devices, the Baden variant featured the crowned heraldic Griffin – the Badischer Greif. German military Pickelhauben also bore two round, colored cockades behind the chinstraps on either side of the helmet. The right cockade was the national cockade in red, black, and white; the left cockade identified the soldier’s home state.
This example displays a leather body with all fittings in feldgrau iron, the Baden Griffin front plate, original leather chin straps at Button 91, both cockades present, a neck guard with ventilation slider (Belüftungsschieber), the detachable spike with bayonet closure, and an internal laced leather liner. The helmet is approximately size 54.
Victory Way – New York, 1919
Following the Armistice of November 1918, troops of the American Expeditionary Forces gathered captured German Pickelhauben primarily from German supply depots and warehouses in occupied territories. These collections focused on stockpiled equipment rather than individual battlefield recoveries.
In 1919, New Yorkers hosted the nation’s World War I victory celebration. Being part of the winning side in the “War to End All Wars” was treated as an event of tremendous national significance, and the city’s Park Avenue was transformed for the occasion. For a full week, a five-block stretch of one of New York’s busiest streets was shut off to create the corridor known as “Victory Way.” Massive pyramids of stacked captured German helmets served as the dramatic focal points of this celebratory thoroughfare.
The American government displayed the helmets outside Grand Central Terminal to encourage New Yorkers to purchase war bonds. German helmets were also awarded as prizes to government workers who successfully sold bonds. The captured German weaponry and helmets were subsequently sold through auctions and other means to help pay back the war debt. Most of the exhibit had been sold by the time it was taken down in late 1919, with remaining pieces then sold to private parties via individual requests.
Provenance and Collecting Significance
What sets this helmet apart from other surviving Model 1915 Pickelhauben is its documented connection to the Victory Way display. The back of the helmet shell bears an original label (Etikett) identifying it as one of the helmets designated for the pyramid. At the base of the neck guard, an original metal loop remains – the physical mechanism by which the helmet was attached to the pyramid structure itself. The selling firm states that this is the first such Victory Pyramid helmet they have been able to acquire in over forty years of market activity, indicating the extreme rarity of surviving examples retaining their provenance documentation.
This helmet thus stands at the intersection of multiple historical narratives: the evolution of German military headgear during the First World War, the distinctive military traditions of the Grand Duchy of Baden, and a unique episode in American victory culture. It is a tangible artifact of how the spoils of war were transformed into instruments of public spectacle and civic fundraising, before passing into the hands of private citizens – and ultimately, into the collecting world where pieces of such documented provenance remain exceedingly scarce.
