Unusual army helmet

[MilitaryCollect]

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[MilitaryCollect]

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[MilitaryCollect]

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[Jareth]

The cloth/bullion star is from an officers field cap. No way to prove what the significance, if any the enhanced helmet star had. Some might believe it's a company/division marking. Always buy the item not the story...even if it comes from a "vet".

[MilitaryCollect]

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[John Egger]

Christopher,
If the bullion star with cloth backer patch is about the size of a US nickle then it's not for a hat at all. It would be an army officer's uniform sleeve star added above the stripes on the sleeve to denote the rank of the wearer. Bullion stars for caps or hats would be larger than sleeve stars and "generally" (not always) on a pentagon shape patch. There are always exceptions. So you need to know the size of this patch first.
As for the black dot in the center of the star.....who knows ??????? Those are interesting stories and while I like to never discount anything until there is something concrete to either prove or disprove it.....I would tend to lean in the direction of they are just that...stories ! What we should be asking is where did the guy you bought the helmet from get his information?
Regards,
John

Hi,

Here is an army helmet with a black lacquer dot in the center of the star. The guy I had received it from believed that the dot denoted either an officer or 1st wave of a banzai charge. I would like to know what is the correct answer.

Christopher

[MilitaryCollect]

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[John Egger]

Christpoher,
A 1 3/4" disk is HUGH ! Certainly much bigger than anything on any cap, hat, or cover that I have ever seen. Very unusual to say the least. Thanks for the show & tell and conversation.
John

Hi John,

The circular cloth star measures about 1 3/4" accross. Its probably too big for a field cap. All of the officer's field cap stars I have seen anyway were 6 sided and considerably smaller. I believe that sleeve stars, such as those off a 42' tunic, do look similar to this albeit much smaller and with less ribs.

I've enjoyed the colloquy, but now must return these items to storage. And yes, when it comes to collector's "stories", it reminds me of a decent line from Apocalypse Now.

Christopher