Blue felt covered un-panelled coxcomb style helmet with chrome plated ventilator fitting, and leather helmet band. Marked on leather headband stamp "Made in England Christys London". Has remains of leather chinstrap. No helmet plate. The interior is either green felt or similar flocking.
Use
Standard headdress for male constables and sergeants, probably from Eastbourne or Hastings Borough Police.
Context
A coxcomb style helmet has a ridge running from the top down to the back and mimics older military style helmets going back to Roman times, although the comb offers no real protection. This type of helmet had only limited use in the police forces of Sussex in the 1960's. Eastbourne Borough Police used them between 1964 and 1967 as did Hastings Borough Police in the last few years prior to the 1967 amalgamation. Like many police helmets this one was made by Christys. Given the provenance from Sussex Police this helmet is most likely from either of those forces.
These helmets appear to have some sort of hardened shell, possibly of shellac or plastic. Later versions tend to have plastic helmet bands, so this probably dates from the early 1960s.
