Japanese helmet cover

[sabersandsuch]

Hello,

Picked this helmet cover up not too long ago and have no idea what it is. The fellow I bought it from said it walked into his shop about 30 years ago. Any help would be appreciated.

Thank You
Tony

[sabersandsuch]

interior, with no markings

[Jareth]

Tony, any ink stamps on interior? I have a very similar cover that was "in country" produced for the Japanese in China (?) I have to check on that. The three examples I've seen all had stamps.

[sabersandsuch]

Hi Jareth, no markings what so ever, just alot of edge wear from sitting on a helmet. thanks for the response, all help is appreciated.

[Jareth]

I'll have to dig out my cover & compare. Interior edge stains are easy to fake. Most helmet rims are chipped or missing paint. Just wet interior edge of cover, place on helmet for a few days & you got it.

[sabersandsuch]

Anyone else with any ideas?

Thanks again

[GoForBroke]

From the pics, it's very hard to say for sure what this is. It MIGHT be a theater made cover or it could also be an old reproduction. It's a well known cover style/pattern but definitely not a standard production cover as far as materials. I cannot accurately determine the exterior material from the pictures. It looks a little shiney. Interior lining and absense of markings is a obvious concern. It appears to have signs of being on a helmet and some age/rust but these could appear after being on a helmet for 10+ years in an inproper storage envioronment. Draw strings material can vary on these - this is not the most common draw string encountered on these. None of the above necessarily indicates it's a repro with 100% certainty but they are concerns for experienced collectors who have handled lots of these covers. Evaulating Japanese items with these features gets to be very difficult and subjective - so I tend to lean toward standard issue items most of the time.

[cbuehler]

I would also tend to regard this as an old repro, probably for the movies. It is not a "field made" job as it is too well done for that. When it comes to non standard items such as this, without provenance one must have deep reservations.

CB

[sabersandsuch]

I really appreciate your helmet and info. I will post better photos tomorrow to help show the true features of the cover, I used flash with these pictures.

Thank you for your help
Tony