Andy Turnham's Blog (3)

Ramblings of a helmet collector #3

I've got a nice little German leather helmet that has sat on a shelf in my workroom for several years because I have no idea of how to restore it. It's made by Rosenbaeur around 1930 or so and has a two-piece hard leather crown with enamelled steel front and back peaks sewn on to it.

When I got it the crown had shrunk and become misshapen and the stitching rotted away. Re-stitching it is no…

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Added by Andy Turnham on March 17, 2011 at 4:25pm — No Comments

Ramblings of a helmet collector #2

Here's a issue I've long pondered. Is it right to renovate or refurbish a vintage helmet? For many years I would do no more than clean up a helmet. I felt that to renovate it close to it's original condition would, somehow, degrade it.

I got to discussing this issue with other collectors and got differing opinions. Quite a few thought as I did, that they should be left "as found" but there seemed to be just as many who felt that, as long as it was in… Continue

Added by Andy Turnham on March 11, 2011 at 5:27pm — No Comments

Ramblings of a helmet collector

I started collecting fire helmets about twenty years ago. It was just one of those things I fell into. One day I was chatting with the guys in the Fire Brigade Benevolent Fund and one of them mentioned that that they had a load of recently decommissioned helmets for sale as a fund raiser.

So I bought a couple, thinking my two young kids would love them. The did, for a few days and then they were buried in the toy box. But it sewed the seed, I spotted a MSA… Continue

Added by Andy Turnham on March 9, 2011 at 10:45pm — No Comments