Early ssh39 with leather liner

[tankredi]

Something special...

A very early ssh39 with leather liner. I think these are very rare.

There some white stuff around the rivets. Maybe remnants of a winter camo?


Some questions:

- Which factory made this helmet?

- The star+circle stamp is an arsenal stamp, correct? Can the arsenal by identified by the number (77)?


P.S.: The chinstrap was added by me

[GREIF]

Some questions:

- Which factory made this helmet?

- The star+circle stamp is an arsenal stamp, correct? Can the arsenal by identified by the number (77)?

Hi

issued from LMZ factory, based in Lysva Ural .

Yes number of military depot, but difficult to be more precise .

Regard

[Wesley's Dad]

Ssh-39

Greif is correct on all counts. Very nice early helmet. This one is quite rare, LMZ was making helmets in this liner style from a number of different materials. Yours comes from near the end of this activity as it has the standardized LMZ factory stamp as found in all later LMZ Ssh-39.

If you wanted the chinstrap you added to be a little more convincing, remove the metal end termination. These did not appear on LMZ Ssh-39 until the liner was standardized to to the cloth sack version.

Again, Very nice helmet

[tankredi]

Thanks for your inputs.

Anybody can shed some light on the arsenal stamp?

Guess Il´ll have a little work to on the strap.

[Wesley's Dad]

Stamp

Unfortunately there is little known as to the exact meaning of the number in that stamp or even what the phrase "Arsenal Stamp" really means.

[Bernhard]

Hi T.

As I already mentioned on the MFF thread , the chinstraps on these early
helmets had a darker color and also the web material looks to be
different from the later variants.

Here for your information some examples of the "early"straps !

Grüße

Bernhard

[Bernhard]

As Michael already has mentioned the early straps did not have the
metal tip.

[Bernhard]

aa

[Bernhard]

bb

[tankredi]

Bernhard, thanks for the pictures!

[tankredi]

I have found a better chinstrap for this helmet.

I think it looks much better now!

[tankredi]

This helmet is now for sale on the Estand:
http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...=1#post6296664

[Edelweiss]

Greif is correct on all counts. Very nice early helmet.

Nice helmet indeed, seems this one has already got a new owner.

Michael, Bernhard : to go a bit further on the subject, it seems to me that this helmet shows an artificial leather liner : 7 tongues only, with a different shape and double (non reinforced) drawstring holes compared to the very early natural leather liners. This, together with "the standardized LMZ factory stamp as found in all later LMZ Ssh-39", can we still say that this helmet - apart from not having a cloth-sack liner - is really an "early one" ?

Not being a specialist on this subject, I'd be thankful if you could shed some more light on this very point.

[Wesley's Dad]

Yes, I would still say this helmet falls in the area that most would call early. Earlier than the standardized model if nothing else.

[Edelweiss]

Hmm, yes of course.

So, it's my understanding that among the SSH-39 family made by LMZ (let's talk about this factory only), we have :
1°) The "very early ones" (1939) : natural leather liners (narrow tongues, one reinforced drawstring-hole per tongue). First model factory stamp. Rares in the SSH-39 family in question.
2°) The "early ones" (1939-1940) : ersatz liners (oilcloth, synthetic leather), 1st and 2nd model (standardized) factory stamps. Scarce in the family (the helmet in this thread).
3°) The "usual" or "standardized ones" (1940-1941) : cloth-sack liners, standardized factory stamp. The most common ones in the family.

But it's also my understanding now - and that's what my question above was related to - that in the second group of the "early ones", no real chronological classification can be made - at least from the liners - as it seems that all ersatz materials were used more or less together during this production phase. I mean without any logical order and/or evolution in the material itself (nature, color), or even in the shape of the cutting of the liner (i.e. one reinforced drawstring-hole, narrow tongues or two drawstring-holes, wider tongues).

In fact, in the group #2, only the factory stamp - and this stamp only - can give an idea of how a SSH-39 can be chonologically placed within the group.

Hope I wasn't too wrong in the above summary and statements, reading your posts and taking a look at your items is a great source of info, Gents.