Fire Helmet, "Excelsior"
date: label: date made
content: ca 1860
name: label: maker
content: unknown
notes: label: Description
content: This early leather work hat with its low, dome-shaped crown, narrow brim, and lack of a company shield and shield holder, is vaguely reminiscent of eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-century “stovepipe-style” fire hats. Yet it also includes more modern features like combs and a curved, extended rear brim. Indicative of its hybrid, early-to-modern construction, this hat could date to as early as 1812 or as late as 1860. A large label printed inside the crown indicates that the hat belonged to the “Excelsior” Company, possibly of New York.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Fire Fighting and Law Enforcement
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of CIGNA Museum and Art Collection
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2005.0233.0175
label: accession number
content: 2005.0233
label: catalog number
content: 2005.0233.0175
objectType: label: Object Name
content: helmet, fire
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: leather (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: black (overall color)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 5 1/2 in x 13 in x 13 1/2 in; 13.97 cm x 33.02 cm x 34.29 cm