{"product_id":"imperial-german-cabinet-card-prussian-soldier-pickelhaube-kiel-photographer-schmidt","title":"Imperial German Cabinet Card Prussian Soldier Pickelhaube Kiel Photographer Schmidt","description":"\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\"\u003eOriginal Imperial German period cabinet-card photograph depicting a standing enlisted soldier of the Prussian army in full parade dress, produced by the Kiel studio of F. Wilhelm Schmidt. The card measures 4.5 by 2 inches (approximately 11.4 by 5.1 cm) in the narrow, elongated \u003cem\u003ecarte\u003c\/em\u003e format favored for full-length standing portraits, mounted on stiff photographic board with a gilt-lettered studio imprint along the lower margin.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\"\u003eThe image is a full-length studio portrait taken against a painted drape-and-landscape backdrop, the sitter posed beside a cloth-draped table. He wears the enlisted \u003cem\u003eWaffenrock\u003c\/em\u003e (tunic) of the line, single-breasted with a standing collar and a row of buttons down the front, the \u003cem\u003eBrandenburg\u003c\/em\u003e cuffs each closed with buttons. A leather waist belt with a stamped enlisted buckle plate is worn at the waist, and a \u003cem\u003eFangschnur\u003c\/em\u003e (marksmanship or parade cord) loops across the breast and shoulder, the distinction awarded for shooting proficiency and worn on the dress tunic. The shoulder strap carries a raised cipher above an apparent regimental numeral, and its edge is piped in the branch or regimental color; the device is legible as a cipher-and-numeral combination but is not resolvable to a single regiment with full confidence, and no specific unit is asserted here. Resting on the table at the sitter's hand is a \u003cem\u003ePickelhaube\u003c\/em\u003e (spiked helmet) of the standard pattern, its spread-winged heraldic eagle front plate and spike turned toward the camera in the customary manner of these garrison portraits. A pair of gloves is held in the opposite hand.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\"\u003eThe gilt imprint at the base of the mount reads \u003cem\u003eF. Wilh. Schmidt\u003c\/em\u003e at left and \u003cem\u003eKiel — Holstenstr. 22\u003c\/em\u003e at right, identifying both the photographer and his premises. F. Wilhelm Schmidt operated a photographic studio at Holstenstrasse 22 in Kiel during the Imperial period and is documented photographing the city's garrison and naval personnel, the studio's surviving output including soldier and sailor portraits of the Kaiserreich. The Kiel location is significant to the piece. Kiel, in the Prussian province of \u003cem\u003eSchleswig-Holstein\u003c\/em\u003e (Schleswig-Holstein), was the principal Baltic base of the \u003cem\u003eKaiserliche Marine\u003c\/em\u003e (Imperial German Navy) and the headquarters of the Baltic naval station, a garrison city crowded with army and navy personnel throughout the decades before the First World War. A studio on the Holstenstrasse, one of the city's central thoroughfares, sat squarely in the path of the servicemen who patronized such establishments to send a formal likeness home. The portrait thus fixes its unnamed subject to a specific place and milieu even where his unit cannot be read with certainty: a Prussian enlisted man of the Kiel garrison, photographed in his best dress with the marksman's cord and spiked helmet that were the pride of the peacetime soldier.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\"\u003eThe broader interest of the card lies in what it preserves of the ordinary Imperial soldier. The great majority of \u003cem\u003eKaiserreich\u003c\/em\u003e servicemen left no medals, no documents, and no named record; the studio portrait was often the single object by which a man marked his service, commissioned during training or garrison duty and dispatched to family. The \u003cem\u003ePickelhaube\u003c\/em\u003e, the \u003cem\u003eWaffenrock\u003c\/em\u003e, and the \u003cem\u003eFangschnur\u003c\/em\u003e seen here are the everyday material culture of that army, and a well-composed full-length example showing the helmet's eagle plate to the camera is exactly the kind of image collectors of Imperial headgear and uniforms use as period reference for how these items were actually worn.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\"\u003eCondition is consistent with age and honest use. The photographic image is clear with good tonal range and legible uniform detail. The mount shows edge and corner wear, a few small losses to the board corners, light surface soiling, and some age-toning and spotting to the margins; the gilt studio imprint remains legible. The card presents as a sound, displayable original with the wear expected of a small carte more than a century old.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\"\u003eFor the collector, the card offers several points of appeal at a modest level of entry: a clearly marked Kiel photographer tying it to the Prussian province of Schleswig-Holstein and the great Baltic naval city, a full-length parade-dress pose with \u003cem\u003ePickelhaube\u003c\/em\u003e and marksmanship cord, and the documentary value of a period image showing the enlisted uniform as worn. Comparable Imperial German cabinet cards and cartes of identified-studio garrison soldiers are steadily sought by collectors building state, regional, and headgear-reference collections.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Derrittmeister Militaria Group","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50141769662703,"sku":"44-74","price":65.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/9169\/5855\/files\/44-74.jpg?v=1783364256","url":"https:\/\/derrittmeister.com\/products\/imperial-german-cabinet-card-prussian-soldier-pickelhaube-kiel-photographer-schmidt","provider":"Derrittmeister Militaria Group","version":"1.0","type":"link"}