Lot 126

IRISH ARMY M1927 VICKERS INFANTRY COMBAT HELMET

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IRISH ARMY M1927 VICKERS INFANTRY COMBAT HELMET

Estimate: $400 - $700

Starting Bid: $200

(0 Bids)

by Milestone Auctions
August 1, 2026 10:00 AM EDT
Live Auction
38198 Willoughby Parkway
Willoughby, OH, US 44094

This is a scarce 1920’s Irish Army military helmet complete with liner and chinstrap.  They were based on the WW1 German military helmet but actually made in Northern Ireland by the firm of Vickers.  They were actually of rather poor construction when compared to the German helmets and manufactured from a much thinner gauge of metal and consequently, most existing helmets are dented in some way.  They were originally painted olive green but repainted white for civil defence use during WW2.  This is the finish that remains on this helmet.  Very strangely, most of these helmets were destroyed in the 1970’s when they were used as hard core during the construction of an Irish Army barracks.  Complete with its original liner.  Excellent.  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.

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Bid Increments
From: To: Increments:
$0 $99 $10
$100 $999 $25
$1,000 $1,999 $50
$2,000 $4,999 $100
$5,000 $9,999 $250
$10,000 $24,999 $500
$25,000 $49,999 $1,000
$50,000 $99,999 $2,500
$100,000 + $5,000