Elaborate handiwork

Attic find reveals fire department history

The historic leather helmet was restored with great attention to detail.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Greßl)

Before our firefighters were affectionately known as "silver helmets", the local comrades still wore protective clothing made of leather.

Almost a year ago, Andreas Habinger in Neidling, St. Pölten district, rescued an old leather helmet from the fire department before it was thrown away. The historic piece was badly worn, Habinger looked for a specialist to restore it - and ended up in the Amstetten district. The decisive tip came from a comrade from the Biberbach fire department: Peter Greßl from Rosenau, district specialist for fire department history, was the right man for the job. Greßl was skeptical at first: "The leather had shrunk due to decades of incorrect storage in an attic, the lining was torn and the helmet was very dirty."

Restored with attention to detail
But enthusiasm quickly gained the upper hand: "Fortunately, all the helmet rivets and lion heads were still there." More than 60 hours of painstaking manual work were spent cleaning, sewing, sanding, painting and polishing. And Greßl also discovered a special feature: "The metal fittings were not made of brass as usual, but of nickel, which was very expensive at the time around 1900."

The old find was not an eye-catcher(Bild: Greßl)

The helmet was professionally restored(Bild: Greßl)

Now it shines again in new splendor(Bild: Greßl)

Andreas Habinger and Peter Greßl with their piece of jewelry(Bild: Greßl)

In the end, Peter Greßl was able to restore the historic helmet to the way it was probably once produced and hand it over to Andreas Habinger. He was touched: "This showpiece will have a special place in my local museum parlor."