My father was U.S. Army stationed in West Germany 1955 to 1958.  While there, he picked up a variety of antiques and souvenirs.  Among the items he bought while over there were these old German helmets, which appear to be regional fire and police helmets.  Each is in relatively rough shape, and I'd have to say that most of these likely saw heavy use by their original owners, based on some of the dents, and condition of the liners. 

 

This first one is pretty neat, as it comes with the box.

 

What an impressive collection! The last one is a Bavarian Reserve Infanterie Regiment helmet though. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for starting this thread: it should help collectors tell military helmets from the public services helmets such as police and fire (were those services actually under the military in many instances?)

 

I had a pre-WWI Austrian police helmet come in today along with a fire brigade helmet badged for Freiwillige Feuerwehr Lackenbach - the volunteer fire department of Lackenbach, Austria. I have seen many similar ones online, but with different community names on the badge. Any ideas of when these were used. This one has a firefighters name written inside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bob, 

 

These helmets were used from Imperial times through the time of the Weimar Republic.  The ones such as this continued in use for a long time with the Volunteer Fire Departments.  New steel helmets cost money.  These folks were not normally officials or part of the military but served as volunteers for community service.

 

 

Here is an imperial Austrian M1884 police helmet with the Emperor Franz Joseph monogram:

 

 

 

 

Great thread. Here are some pictures of a Bavarian Police Pickelhaube.