Saka Light Cavalry

Saka Light Cavalry

Friday 29 August 2014

History First

The wargames hobby I have always found makes the hobbiest more aware of what actually happened in the wars they choose to recreate and in doing so tend to be far less pro war than the typical bod on the street.
I have always been interested in actual items that come from wars and have collected such objects as time as gone past such as the ECW musket balls through to Medals, though I once owned a Napoleonic cannon ball fetched from the sea (not fired in anger) fetched up by my father on a dive near Cornwall, oh I wish I still had that ball.

So whilst on holiday last week I cam across a shop selling military related items including the WWII French helmet shown above. I was torn between this one and a number of other helmets including a German paratroopers but this one won the personal debate.

At the moment I am just enjoying looking at it sitting waiting for me to do something with it. I plan to get a stand for it and it can join the other items in my man cave that are just there because they can be. To some people this will be seen as glorifying war and I don't have a strong argument against such a view as the main reason I bought and will keep this is simply for the enjoyment of owning it. WWII happened, I wish we could say we learnt things from it but given the number of conflicts large and small tells me we learnt less than we should and some of the wars fought have been less about protecting the vulnerable and more about getting some form of advancement, be it for Country or personal really matters little to me.

Back to the helmet, it's certainly great to own something that not only comes from WWII but comes from neither Britain or Germany and is as iconic as I feel this is. I was told by the guy who owns the shop that some of these helmets have been sold as WWI French helmets that are worth a lot more than the WWII version. I plan to save up and revisit sometime again, my son of course was real happy picking up a 50cal machine gun round, the bloke also had a 50cal US HMG and a Russian WWII MMG on it's carriage. I did not ask how much the 50cal was but the MMG was worth between £800-850 which was lower than I would have expected.

13 comments:

  1. That is a very interesting find, has it been re-lined, it looks very new? Glorifying war! I would imagine that all wargamer's are accused of such at sometime. I have, and I struggle at times to make non-gamers understand that I'm more interested in why we fight and how people deal with the experience. I doubt very much that wargamer's started the conflict in the Ukraine for example. Plus I love history and the hobby is a great way to understand the ways of the world.

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    1. The liner is the original, it's very shiny but close inspection shows wear and some parts that would touch the head show some build up of grime so I am confident the liner is original.

      Imparting history to my son of the periods he is getting interested in is very important to me, he keeps asking surprising questions I don't always know the answer to.

      Ian

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  2. Collection toy soldiers and having an interest in history go hand in hand and we all have bit and bots around, but this is good example of an Adrian Helmet and personally I think you made the right buy. But are you sure it is French as I think its one of the helmets worn by Canterbury's Anglican League militias, lol

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    1. Your a tricky one Pete, I nearly swallowed my tongue reading the "are you sure.." bit :-)

      Ian

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  3. Pretty nice helmet and indeed as iconic as nothing else of note for the french army of that time me thinks.

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    1. I think the Char B was also quite iconic, but I would struggle to get one of these up the drive. Have you seen the Goliath that someone made into a coffee table?

      Ian

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  4. Excellent decision Ian! That is very cool!

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    1. I tend to take something to the ASL tournaments and I am thinking this is next years offering.

      Ian

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  5. Very nice, and probably not a bad investment either. There won't be any more of them made!

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    1. I also thought of it as an investment, not really for me but I assume one or both of the kids will take over all I own at some point and maybe keep them or sell them to buy something they need.

      Ian

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  6. Really nice purchase Ian! Like you say it is history, and we can only learn from it! Personally I would like to have this helmet myself to give it a nice place in my man cave! Lucky man you are!

    Greetings
    Peter

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