HELP!!!! LINER PINS from Ebay!!

[PlaceOfBayonets]

Hey Guys,

(If you are viewing this far into the future it's the only known thread on reproduction vs. original M16/17/18 liner pins. It started as a thread for me to find out about some pins I bought but in the end should be helpful to anyone wondering about any liner pins you've come across. Hope this helps. Read on....)

I won some M16 liner pins. Seller is a well known dealer who knows his stuff. Auction said they are original. Normally I'd not question the items from this dealer but when I got them they really looked too good to be true. I am not home to compare them to my original helmets but the color looks spot on.

But they look so nice that they remind me of the reproductions I have used and pulled from a helmet once or twice for a re install.

I am not expert on pins if anyone knows them well can you comment? Normally I can say they are good or reproduction but I am stumped by these.

Just want a second opinion since they were not cheap...



http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=160319295489



I've taken a good photo a few posts down.

Wilhelm

[BryanD]

The Ebay pictures look good. They certainly do not look mint.

[PlaceOfBayonets]

They look better in person and the faces are almost 100% condition. What are the tell tale signs to tell reproductions from Originals? I know reproduction front pins seem to be fatter and have larger pin faces.

W.

[C. Roelens]

W.,

Based on the photos he posted I thought they looked pretty good. Were these the first or second set he listed? I bought a nice original WWI chinstrap from him several years ago and it arrived exactly as described.

I'll wait for you tp post photos of these liner pins. He says they were removed from a trashed helmet. If that's the case, it's highly unlikely these pins will have nearly 100% of their original paint.

Chuck

[PlaceOfBayonets]

Here are the pins with a really good photo from a camera not my own

What do you guys think? Original or reproductions? They just look too good to be true. Are they?

W.

Just to make sure the camera is not fooling your eyes, that is green paint all the way up the prongs.

[ROBB]

They dont look like they have come from a trashed helmet and they dont look like they have been bent flat for nearly 100 years ,are they real ? who knows but if the seller sells some more exactly the same in the future you will have your answer .Rob

[PlaceOfBayonets]

The face of the pins have some sort of over spray on them. Looks tan but might be gray. The Seller re finishes helmet for re enactors. The face of the pins is not slightly pitted and worn looking as the photo makes them look.

W.

[DennyB]

Will, I am no expert but I feel these are reproductions. This isn't that Chuck from Colorado selling these are they? He had an unlimited supply of "original" FJ helmet bolts in about the same condition as these.
Denny

[Adler 1]

Hello Will, I'm not an expert but imo these are other pins than in the first picture. The color is different, but also the texture of the paint is not the same. In picture 1 you can see a small spot of rust which I don't see in picture 2. Maybe it's because the pics were taken under an other angle, I don't know...
To make a long story short: I think the pins in pic 1 are original and the ones in pic 2 seem to be repro...

Greetings from Belgium,

Adler 1

[PlaceOfBayonets]

Hello Will, I'm not an expert but imo these are other pins than in the first picture. The color is different, but also the texture of the paint is not the same. In picture 1 you can see a small spot of rust which I don't see in picture 2. Maybe it's because the pics were taken under an other angle, I don't know...
To make a long story short: I think the pins in pic 1 are original and the ones in pic 2 seem to be repro...

Greetings from Belgium,

Adler 1

I suspected they might not be the same pins too but upon very close inspection just now they are the same pins from auction to my photo. The details just look different in my photo from the ebay auction photos. My photo seems to show the details how they seem in person more then the E bay photos.

The Seller is in Michigan not colorado or whatever. Look at the seller's ebay info. He is well known.

W.

[C. Roelens]

They don't look like the same rivets in the ebay photo. The rivets in the ebay photo have a much better chance of being originals than the ones you just posted W. I can't say that I'm 100% sure without further inspection, but, I wouldn't buy the rivets you posted as being originals exactly as removed from a trashed helmet. I'm leaning towards reproductions also. If they are originals then they have been cleaned and repainted.

Chuck

[PlaceOfBayonets]

Just checked the auction to make sure I was not missing anything. Here is the


Description

original WW1 German helmet split-pins

This is a set of three split-pins which were removed from trashed M16 helmet. The prongs are still sturdy enough to install into your helmet shell. Most of the original paint is still there.


Says original paint is on them. I know one time one of my helmets was sold to the seller who took out the original pins and sold them on ebay just like the auction I bought this set from. I knew they were repainted. Seller never said anything but that the pins were original. True enough. The auction I won states that they have original paint.

I have asked the seller to review this thread and comment. Maybe we are all missing something and will learn something new? Like I told the seller. I hope they are good as I don't want to send them back but at same time don't want to pay high end prices for re productions either.

I hope they are good and the issue can be put to rest in a manner that leaves no doubt.

W.

[Paul G]

I think these are the same pins in both the auction and your photos. Now I don't know WW1 German helmets like I know WW2 German helmets, But I think they are original as described. I have bought WW2 German liner pins from this same seller, who is a respected forum mermber here. I can tell you this, I got exactly what I intended to buy, Original liner pins, with original paint. The seller was easy to work with, and held up his end of the deal. I watch his auctions on E-bay all the time, and everything has always been described very accurately. All I have ever seen him sell was good quality,original helmet parts !

PG-

[C. Roelens]

The face of the pins have some sort of over spray on them. Looks tan but might be gray. The Seller re finishes helmet for re enactors. The face of the pins is not slightly pitted and worn looking as the photo makes them look.

W.

Webster's definition of artificial - (1) made by human work; not natural. (2) not genuine; affected.

[C. Roelens]

Hans... I would like to hear your opinion.

Chuck