19th Century Firefighters Were Darth Vader and C3PO Before Darth Vader and C3PO Were Cool

Early rescue masks c. mid-1800s to WWI (Photo via Steve Erenberg)

This pair of early rescue masks, shown above, dates from between the mid-1800s and World War I. They look a bit familiar, right? Almost 100 years before Darth Vader and C-3PO hit the big screen in “Star Wars” in 1977, these two smoke helmets were worn by firefighters carrying out rescues in smoke-logged buildings. The buzz among collectors is that George Lucas’s designers must have found inspiration in these smoke helmets and others like them. In fact, one well-known 19th-century manufacturer was named Vajen-Bader—you could easily get the name Vader from that.

The black leather helmet on the left is labeled “Respirations Apparat” by “G.B.Konic Altona,” was made in Hamburg, Germany, and has the look of an African Dan mask. The brass, three-quarter face mask to its right was made in Paris by J. Mandet. This type of breathing mask had a very simple apparatus, allowing only a short range of operation. When used, air would be forced into the helmet through no more than 13 meters of flexible tubing by means of a bellows operated remotely from the outside. Both of these masks have mica lenses to help protect the eyes from heat.

- Steve Erenberg guest blogging at Collector's Weekly

Okay, the inspiration is obvious. But think about it - imagine crawling on the floor of a smoke-filled apartment or house, trying to feel your way out to safety and then, your eyes trace a figure standing in front of you reaching out. You look up and see...

Way cool!