WW1 German Helmet Crest

[Mr KillKill]

I have a WW1 eagle crest off a German helmet, one of those spiked ones, my grandfather souvenired it when he fought at the Somme in the Australian Army and it was eventually passed on to me. I am trying to figure out what the crest represents, it comes in two pieces, a winged eagle made of either brass or copper and on the left wing (the way the head faces) the inscription reads “MIT . GOTT . FUR . KOENIG .” and then on the right side it reads “. UND . VATERLAND . “
The second piece is made of, I’m guessing here, silver, is in the shape of a shining sun with an eagle emblem at the centre and an inscription which reads SUUM CUIQUE.
This second silver piece rests over the breast of the brass/copper eagle. I have looked over the net and have yet to see a crest made up of two pieces, all the ones I have seen lack the second silver piece.
My grandfather was a bit of a fiddler so it may be made up of two pieces that he found but I would be interested in your opinions.
The link below has a few photos to give you an idea what I’m talking about, apologies for the quality but the camera refused to focus properly.


http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/553772111/2816598130096554990QeUmWR

Using http://www.babelfish.altavista.com/tr to translate
MIT . GOTT . FUR . KOENIG. UND . VATERLAND
I got
WITH. GOD. FUR. KING. AND. NATIVE COUNTRY

But it couldn’t translate SUUM CUIQUE I’m guessing it might be Latin?

 

[systemlord]

A nice piece you got there....

"Mit Gott für König und Vaterland!" means as you already found out "With God for King and native country!"

Suum Cuique means in German "Jedem das Seine!" or in English "To each his own", but with idiomatic meaning of "to each according to his/her merits".

The star is known as the Order of the Black Eagle (German: Schwarzer-Adler-Orden) and was the highest order of chivalry in Prussia or is also known as the guard-star (Gardestern).

It is today still the symbol of the military police (Feldjäger) of the Bundeswehr.

In your case the eagle and the star belong together.

It the so called Garde-Adler (guard eagle). The photo shows the version for officer rank, yours is the version for crew ranks because the star is silver.
It was worn by the soldiers of the Gardekorps (guard corps).
The guard corps was arranged, after the last peace conditions from 1914, into 2 guard infantry divisions with 5 guard infantry brigades, a guard chivalry division with 4 guard chivalry brigades, 2 guard field artillery brigades, a railway brigade and other troops and authorities.
Commanding Officer of the two elite guard regiments, the first guard regiment to foot and the regiment Gardes du Corps was always the respective king of Prussia.

 

[Mr KillKill]

Cheers for that, a nice lot of info and clears about the silver star.

 

[Fox]

Nice pic, Mr. Killkill. It is good that your grandfather survived from Battle of Somme, one of most bloody battlefield of World War 1.

 

[Mr KillKill]

I have seen photo of him before he joined when he was a happy go lucky lad and I have seen a photo after he came back.
The expression on his face in the second photo gives you an indication of how bad it must have been.