helmet

[A Senefelder]

My first thought was "fireman's helmet".

This certainly can't be ruled out as especially in 19th century European examples there were some with deep backs and the variety of large, usually attached crests/ridges in the center often went most of the way down the back neckline. A few thought on that, 1) the crest/medial ridge, in most all early fireman's helmets I've seen this is a separate attached piece rather, 2) construction, many were made of leather but when made of metal were often of brass.

The inside pics are bit light an fuzzy so I can't be certain but it doesn't appear on either end ( front or back ) of the medial ridge that the helmet is welded in two halves, but there are some marks/spot in the peak of the ridge, one of which seems to correspond to external damage to the ridge that appear due to the fuzzy character of the pic as if they might be welding. Is the helmet welded along the peak of the medial ridge or is this from damage to the medial ridge? The internal pics aren't showing me any evidence that this helmet was ever set up to hold a liner, if this were a fireman's helmet, at least a finished one it would have one.

Would it be possible to get something approximating a real weight in pounds/kilograms? There's a big difference between a 2 pound helmet and a 7-8 pound helmet and what they may have been meant for ( i'm thinking in terms of field weight vs. siege weight ala 16/17th century armour ).

[Miles82]

it is from southern France..it is damaged..it is welded to the medial ridge

[A Senefelder]

it is damaged..it is welded to the medial ridge

Are the welds applied only to the damaged areas or along the entire inside length of the medial ridge?

[Miles82]

seems to be in the entire ridge

[A Senefelder]

seems to be in the entire ridge

Well that would tend to point to later 19th or 20 century in terms of dating. Perhaps it was intended to be some sort of fire helmet after all. It still has an " unfinished " feel to me as if it was never taken to completion with a helmet liner ect, but that's pure speculation on my part.