Nalobnik soldier Grenadier caps of the sample of 1762

Extremely rare nalobnik in perfect collectible condition. From old domestic collection.

The reign of Emperor Peter III, lasted only six months, 25 December 1761 – 28 June 1762 of the many conceived and initiated reforms no one, in fact, was not brought to an end. Some initiatives were later developed by Empress Catherine II, however, reforms in the army this is not true – all of them were stopped immediately after the Palace coup in 1762. For this reason, as the plans for military reforms of Peter the III, and their implementation is poorly studied. It is considered that the whole army was supposed to pereosmyslyaet on the Prussian model, as the Emperor highly appreciated the military talents of Frederick the Great. April 1, 1762, was approved the regulations on uniforms field musketeer regiments and Grenadier battalions. Uniforms became shorter and more narrow, the color selection application details (collar, cuffs, and buttons) provided at the discretion of the regimental chefs. Them out of four (yellow, white, yellow or orange). choosing the color of the camisole and pants. All these innovations was a tribute to Prussian military fashion, which, of course, could not ignore such an important detail of the shape, as a hat.

Grenadier caps with round leather top and low nalobnik, the design of which was traced back to the times of Peter I, was supposed to cancel. Now a ceremonial headdress for the lower ranks of Grenadier companies and battalions was supposed to be a cap, a sample of which was almost completely borrowed from Prussian grenadiers of Frederick II. Russian officers, whose appearance and arrangement of such hats were unusual, immediately dubbed them "sugar heads". The new cap was much higher old, its height reached to 6.5 – 7 inches (29 – 31.5 cm). Its Foundation was a frame, built from willow branches or whalebone, to which is attached a notched rim on hard (leather or metal) basis. The sides and the top is tight fitting colored cloth. Top hats were mounted hair brush, colors which meant a combination of battalion and company. Rear rim has diagonalise metal jewelry – two flaming Grenada and a notched plaque "trophy".

Front to the frame is attached to a metal nalobnik, not allowing the hat to lose shape and gave it a finished look. Nalobnik was a isosceles triangle with rounded sides, curved in plan, the circumference of the cap. To the frame it should be a steel or brass wire, which on its perimeter, there were two rim, between which pairs of penetrated small holes. The lower part of the caps kantvilas thin black leather, also podshivalsya to nalobnik using a thin wire. Nalobnik could be printed from brass or red copper, coated in brass. To image small parts additionally used chasing. The image on the nalobnik was a complex composition, meaning the center of which were two-headed eagle, crowned with three Imperial crowns. On the eagle's breast with a slope to the sides is notched (German type) heraldic shield surmounted by Imperial crowns, one of which depicted the Russian state emblem (two-headed crowned eagle with the Moscow coat of arms on the chest), and in another – "coat of arms of Holstein". Last symbolized the fact that Peter III, grandson of Peter I and the son of his daughter Anna Petrovna, who married the Duke of Holstein, from birth bore the title of Duke of Schleswig-Holstein. Below the eagle in a crowned medallion placed the monogram of Peter III in the form of a crossed Latin letters "PP" with the Roman numeral "III". On the sides of the medallion with the monogram placed image "of military trophies." Perimeter nalobnik decorated with floral ornament in Baroque style in the lower corners of the stamped image of the burning grenade.

Nalobnik of the sample of 1762, was distinguished by careful execution, including work on small parts, and a well-defined counter-reliefs. No information about the number of caps or their harvested during the spring and summer of 1762, did not survive. It is only known that the new uniforms had put on the officers, and possibly the lower ranks of the guards regiments (Preobrazhensky, Semenovsky and Izmailovsky). So, G. R. Derzhavin later recalled that in August, 1762, arrived in Moscow and, 3em">"being in the uniform of the Preobrazhensky, Golshtinsky manner of skimpy, with gold buttonholes, with a yellow camisole and even pants made with the Prussian fat scythe, arc, arched, convex, like mushrooms beside the ears sticking out from the thick greasy lipstick osleplennye, paraded before Moscow residents, which is such an extraordinary or rather strange outfit seemed very wonderful, so that drew my eyes stupid... but for the arrival of the Empress built the old cover of the Transfiguration uniforms". All the innovations of Peter III was cancelled immediately on his accession to the throne his wife. Thus, the quantity of hats and their sample of 1762 was very small – in the range of several hundred. The restored Catherine to the old uniforms they did not fit. In accordance with the practice of the time military units were able to return the part spent on making their funds only by selling them to auction "scrap metal". Anyway, in our days, their Grenadier caps of the reign of Peter III known only in single copies. Presumably, they could be stored in the wardrobes of sergeants of the guards, almost without exception were nobles by birth, as the memory of military service.

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