The price includes a 4% credit card fee. If you pay by check, money order, or bank wire, the discounted price is $10,250 delivered within the contiguous United States.
A 123-year-old, serial-number-matching diving helmet that remains in its original working configuration is a remarkable survivor of American diving history.
This beautiful A.J. Morse & Son diving helmet was manufactured circa 1903, during the great era of the American hard-hat diver. With its hand-worked copper body, heavy brass fittings, and classic three-light design, it represents the quintessential image of the American commercial diving helmet at the turn of the 20th century.
Configured as a 3-light, 12-bolt helmet, with three windows and twelve breastplate bolts, this design was favored by working divers during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its popularity was such that in the 1904 A.J. Morse & Son catalog, the company described this model as “The Most Popular Helmet In Use.”
Even more significant is the helmet's remarkable originality. A.J. Morse & Son stamped its serial number on both neck rings as well as each of the four brails. Every numbered component on this helmet matches: serial number 1102, allowing us to date its manufacture to approximately 1903. Finding a helmet of this age with its major numbered components still together is increasingly difficult.
Perhaps equally important, this helmet was never modernized with communications equipment. Many early commercial helmets were later drilled, altered, or upgraded as diving technology evolved. This example escaped those modifications and remains in its original configuration. The diver who once worked beneath this bonnet communicated with the surface in the old-fashioned manner—through a system of rope signals.
And then there is the patina.
More than a century of age has transformed the copper and brass surfaces into a spectacular mixture of deep greens, verdigris, aged copper, and darkened brass. It is the kind of natural surface that can only be created by time. Rather than hiding the helmet's past beneath polished metal, its finish proudly displays it. Every variation in color, every working mark, and every area of oxidation contributes to a surface that has taken more than 120 years to develop.
The helmet remains in very good overall condition for an authentic example of this age. Several working dents are present on the top of the bonnet, exactly the sort of honest wear one hopes to see on a helmet that actually earned its living underwater. The exhaust valve, air elbow, internal air vents, safety latch, window guards, glass, four brails, and all twelve wing nuts remain intact. The early glass is remarkably well preserved, with no notable cracks or breaks, and an early unstamped non-return valve remains fitted to the air connection. Most importantly, the copper body has no holes.
Antique commercial diving helmets of this age, originality, and completeness have become increasingly difficult to find. This is not simply an early Morse helmet—it is a remarkably intact artifact from the formative years of American commercial diving, preserved with the scars and extraordinary natural patina acquired over more than a century.
For the collector who has been waiting for a true turn-of-the-century American diving helmet, serial-number matching, unmodified, and wearing its history exactly as it should, this is an exceptional opportunity.
All helmets sold by Nations Attic Inc. will have a certificate of authenticity (COA). This COA will have a serial # on it that will match the # on a tamperproof holographic decal placed on the inside of the helmet. This level of security and long-term assurance of the helmet’s authenticity is unmatched in the industry and very important to us.
The price includes a 4% credit card fee. If you pay by check, money order, or bank wire, the discounted price is $10,250 delivered within the contiguous United States.