{"product_id":"prussian-1st-foot-guards-russian-style-mitre-semper-talis-museum-copy-w-figure","title":"Prussian 1st Foot Guards Russian Style Mitre SEMPER TALIS Museum Copy w\/Figure","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis is a museum copy of a Prussian (Preußen) enlisted man's Grenadiermütze (Grenadier Mitre Cap) in the Russian style (russische Art) attributed to the 1. Garde-Regiment zu Fuß, I. Bataillon (1st Guard Regiment on Foot, 1st Battalion), the senior regiment of the entire Prussian Guard Corps. The piece is offered as a museum copy and presents with considerable age throughout. It is accompanied by a hand-painted flat tin soldier figure depicting a guardsman of the same regiment carrying a regimental color — a companion display piece of independent historical and collector interest.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe construction follows the Russian-style pattern established across this regiment's enlisted mitre inventory. A tall, forward-swept brass front plate dominates the face of the cap, pressed and formed with a pronounced ogival profile and finished with a warm, uneven brass tone carrying the patina of honest age. The front plate surface shows period-consistent wear including scattered contact marks and light surface oxidation. The fabric body is constructed of cream-white wool felt, rising to a forward-swept apex and faced on the interior with vivid scarlet red felt, divided along the center by a cream-white woven grosgrain tape running from base to apex. A narrow navy blue trim strip runs along the seam between the brass plate and the fabric body — a construction detail visible at the leading edge in multiple images and characteristic of this regiment's mitre pattern. The base rim of the front plate is finished with a scale-pattern brass border. At the lower corners of the fabric body, cast brass grenade ornaments (Granaten) — each comprising a spherical bomb surmounted by an articulated flaming wick — are affixed at the junction of the fabric flap with the base rim, one on each flank. The flame vanes of each grenade are individually rendered with clear definition. The pompon is mounted on a tightly wound braided cream cord stem; the pompon body is white wool, and the cap — the topmost portion — is distinctly dark, appearing black over the white body, as visible in Images 3 and 8. The interior is fitted with a black leather liner cut in the scalloped-tab profile, backed by red cloth visible through the cutouts, and stabilized by a brass cross-brace spanning the crown of the plate.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe front plate carries a decorative program that is specific to and immediately identifying of the 1. Garde-Regiment zu Fuß. The upper register presents the Prussian Royal Crown (Preußische Königskrone) in substantial relief, rendered with the beaded rim, arched bands, orb, and surmounting cross in the form established for this pattern of Guard headdress. Below the crown, a shaped ribbon banner carries the regimental motto SEMPER TALIS — Latin for \"Always the Same\" — in raised lettering filled with red enamel or paint, the color surviving clearly in the provided images. This motto belongs exclusively to the 1. Garde-Regiment zu Fuß and no other regiment of the Prussian Guard. Below the banner, a large rayed starburst badge is centered on the lower plate field, at its center a circular medallion bearing a crowned Prussian eagle (Preußischer Adler) with wings spread, surrounded by a twisted rope border and the inscription SUUM CUIQUE — \"To Each His Own\" — the motto of the Orden vom Schwarzen Adler (Order of the Black Eagle). The simultaneous presence of SEMPER TALIS and SUUM CUIQUE on the same front plate is the precise combination that identifies this headdress pattern with the 1. Garde-Regiment zu Fuß specifically, distinguishing it from all other Russian-style mitres in the Prussian Guard inventory.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe 1. Garde-Regiment zu Fuß held a position without equal in the Prussian military hierarchy. Tracing its origins to the personal bodyguard of the Great Elector in the seventeenth century, the regiment was garrisoned permanently at Potsdam within immediate proximity to the Hohenzollern royal palaces, providing the ceremonial and protective establishment of the reigning monarch across successive reigns from Friedrich Wilhelm I through Wilhelm II. Its regimental motto SEMPER TALIS was not a statement of aspiration but of institutional identity — the regiment defined itself by constancy across reigns, wars, and generations. The Grenadiermütze in the Russian style, worn alongside the Friedrich der Große-style cap for different ceremonial occasions, embodied this same historical continuity: a form directly descended from the grenadier caps of Frederick the Great's era, preserved into the Kaiserreich precisely because the historical reference was constitutive of the regiment's self-understanding and its relationship to the Hohenzollern crown.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe companion tin soldier figure (Zinnfigur) is a hand-painted flat figure of substantial quality, depicting a Prussian Guard standard bearer (Fahnenträger) in full dress uniform carrying an unfurled regimental Fahne (color). The soldier wears a mitre cap matching the Russian-style pattern of this headdress, a dark blue Guard Waffenrock (service tunic) with red facings, white crossbelts, and white trousers — the parade dress of the 1. Garde-Regiment zu Fuß. The flag he carries is rendered in detail: the field displays a Prussian eagle motif within a laurel wreath border, and the streamer attached to the staff bears the inscription PRO GLORIA ET PATRIA — \"For Glory and the Fatherland\" — the standard dedication of Prussian regimental colors, alongside what appears to be a battle honor reference including COBURG. The figure is mounted on a green-painted rectangular base. Such figures were produced throughout the Kaiserreich period as commemorative and display objects celebrating specific regiments and their traditions, and were popular with officers, veterans, and military enthusiasts as desktop or cabinet pieces. The quality of the painting, the specificity of the uniform details, and the direct correspondence between the depicted headdress and the physical cap offered here make this a companion piece of genuine relevance to the grouping.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe overall condition is consistent with a museum copy that has been in careful preservation for a considerable period. The brass front plate retains full structural integrity with a deep period patina and honest surface wear. The SEMPER TALIS lettering retains its red fill. The fabric body is clean and structurally sound, with no major tears or losses observed in the provided images. The pompon retains its form and the dark top is clearly present and intact. The leather interior liner shows age-appropriate wear. Both grenade ornaments are present and firmly affixed. The tin soldier figure appears intact and in good display condition; the condition of the paint in detail areas is not fully assessable from the provided images and buyers are encouraged to request additional photographs if needed. Specific measurements of the headdress are not available from the provided images; buyers requiring exact dimensions are encouraged to contact us prior to purchase.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMuseum copies of the Russian-style Grenadiermütze of the 1. Garde-Regiment zu Fuß with the SEMPER TALIS and SUUM CUIQUE dual device are seldom encountered in the collecting field. The addition of a contemporaneous hand-painted tin figure depicting a guardsman of the same regiment in the same headdress elevates this from a single display piece to a coherent thematic grouping of genuine visual and historical interest, suitable for a Prussian Guard or Hohenzollern-themed collection of any ambition.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Derrittmeister Militaria Group","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48197445386479,"sku":"33-361 XJT","price":3495.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/9169\/5855\/files\/33-361XJT8.jpg?v=1774473839","url":"https:\/\/derrittmeister.com\/products\/prussian-1st-foot-guards-russian-style-mitre-semper-talis-museum-copy-w-figure","provider":"Derrittmeister Militaria Group","version":"1.0","type":"link"}