Original Item: One-of-a-kind. This is only one of two snow camouflage M15 Adrian helmet examples we have ever seen! Excellent ultra rare genuine World War I M1915 French Army Artillery Adrian helmet in Snow Camouflage white paint. The helmet retains the original dark horizon blue paint underneath with 100% period genuine original Snow Camouflage white over paint. The horizon blue paint is still visible on the underside of the shell.
The helmet has the original helmet plate with large bomb insignia and RF to the front. Size is approximately US 6 3/4 (54cm). Features a wonderful complete original leather liner in very good condition and a complete original leather chinstrap. Overall condition of the helmet is very good, shell shows some minor dings, scratches and paint chips consistent with age.
The M15 Adrian helmet (French: Casque Adrian) was a combat helmet issued to the French Army during World War I. It was the first standard helmet of the French Army and was designed when millions of French troops were engaged in trench warfare, and head wounds from the falling shrapnel generated by the new technique of indirect fire became a frequent cause of battlefield casualties. Introduced in 1915, it was the first modern steel helmet and it served as the basic helmet of many armies well into the 1930s. Initially issued to infantry soldiers, in modified form they were also issued to cavalry and tank crews. A subsequent version, the M26, was used during World War II.