C035287 IRISH "M16" STYLE M26 HELMET.
BACKGROUND:
In the Irish General Election of 1918 Sinn Fein won the majority of the electoral seats and proclaimed a self-constituted Irish parliament in Dublin which immediately declared Ireland an independent republic. This resulted in a guerilla style civil war with the Sinn Fein allied with the fledgling Irish Republic Army battling against the Royal Irish Constabulary and the volunteer British Blacks & Tans. In December 1921 a short lived truce settlement was reached which designated Ireland as a Dominion under control of the British Empire and effectively partitioned the country into the southern Irish Free State with northern Ireland remaining as a part of the United Kingdom. This was unacceptable to the proponents of an independent Ireland and the civil war only intensified. In 1923 another treaty was signed and an uneasy peace was achieved although the conflict would remaining smoldering for decades. In 1926 the Irish Free State decided to outfit its soldiers with steel helmets. The British helmets were deemed unsuitable due to Irish resentment so the Irish approached the German consulate in an attempt to purchase surplus WWI German helmets. Due to restrictions placed on Germany by the Treaty of Versailles the Germans were not permitted to sell any military hardware including helmets. For a short period of time the Irish experimented with the French Adrian style helmets but found them unacceptable. As a result, in 1927, the Irish contracted the Vickers forgery in England to produce a helmet in the style of the German M16 helmet. The helmet was almost identical to the German M16 with the main difference being the addition of washers to each of the three liner retaining rivets and the addition of two small, riveted metal loops to the helmet front for the inclusion of the modified M1924 pattern Officer’s identifying badge.PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Irish Vickers Helmet - Serial numbered and complete with liner. The liner has shrunk but is complete. Liner size adjustment string and the chinstrap are modern replacements. Cap badge is included (may also be a replacement/copy). The leather liner band is well marked with impressed manufacturers name, location, date, "T. Smith & Son Dublin 1927". The reverse interior neck guard apron is well marked with deeply stamped manufacturers initials serial number, " V. Ltd. H 7412" and "u40/27". Of Note: It is estimated that roughly only around ten thousand of these helmets were produced. In 1940 the Irish Free State adopted the British MkII helmet and a few thousand of the M26 style helmets were painted white and issued to civil defense personnel. In the 1970's the Irish bulldozed around four thousand of the remaining helmets into a construction site. Very scarce Irish M16 style M26 helmet.
GRADE **** PRICE $715.00
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