A Rare WWI Period Tank Crew Splatter Mask

Of steel, shaped to the upper part of the face and covered in brown leather, the inner side lined in brown leather and both sides stitched together around the border, the apertures for the eyes pierced with horizontal vision-slits, the lower part of the face protected with butted mail, retaining its cotton securing straps, and in fine condition

20 cm. wide
Footnotes:
Tank masks were introduced in 1917 to protect tank crews from metal and lead paint fragments scattered around the inside of tanks when they came under fire

Cf. another example sold in these Rooms, The First World War Centenary Sale, 1 October 2014, lot 111; and another, 17 May 2017, lot 91