FJ Cammo helmet opinion?

[lenny]

Hi there guys,

I've posted this on the helmets and headgear forum, what do you think?

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...045#post461045

[lenny]

Hi there guys,

I've posted this on the helmets and headgear forum, what do you think?

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...045#post461045

Hi guys,

No-one gonna offer an opinion?? Please??

a couple don't like it on the headgear forum, but provenance is excellent!

Willi, can you offer advice??

[Jørn Schmidt]

Hi Lenny

Not that I'm a Helmet expert,but I have seen a lot of helmets,personnly I like the parahelmet you show,my opinion is that its a nice untouched helmet,I like
everything on the helmet,liner-chinstrap-shell and the camopaint,sure one helmet I would like to add to my collection.
Cheers
J.S

[Chris]

Frankly, I don't like the paint at all. It's much too bright and fresh, and I can't see any credible evidence of wear in the photos. The texturing around the bolts is particularly egregious. It looks like they were copying my helmet on page 77 of the Kurtz book ("German Paratroops," Schiffer 2000). I wouldn't buy it.

[lenny]

Frankly, I don't like the paint at all. It's much too bright and fresh, and I can't see any credible evidence of wear in the photos. The texturing around the bolts is particularly egregious. It looks like they were copying my helmet on page 77 of the Kurtz book ("German Paratroops," Schiffer 2000). I wouldn't buy it.

I'm waiting to see the helmet in the flesh, you can't really judge by pics. I'm a Professional Photographer and I know only how well flash can affect colours and contrast.

If someone was copying a cammo, would they really copy that one? One that's not the norm.

Anyway, could you post pics of yours? My mate has your book and mentioned yours was similar. This helmet has great provenance so I'm not discounting it yet.

Cheers.

[Chris]

Lenny, sorry, I can't post photos for some reason. You should buy the book instead of this helmet. There are at least five of the cardinal sins of collecting at play here:

(1) convincing yourself something is real because you want it to be,
(2) not listening to the voices of knowledgable collectors about a piece,
(3) overlooking the obvious (the paint on that helmet is brand new),
(4) believing one's ears rather than one's eyes (every piece has a provenence story) and
(5) looking for reasons why something is good rather than for reasons why something is bad ("it comes from a good source," "why would they fake an unusual pattern," "the colors will look different in real life." etc).

Desire is the mother of error. Walk away.

[Si1964]

Hey Chris

You need to be an association member to post pics, if you want to email them to me I will put them on this thread for you. If you could send them in a jpeg less than 700x750 size.

Cheers

[lenny]

Lenny, sorry, I can't post photos for some reason. You should buy the book instead of this helmet. There are at least five of the cardinal sins of collecting at play here:

(1) convincing yourself something is real because you want it to be,
(2) not listening to the voices of knowledgable collectors about a piece,
(3) overlooking the obvious (the paint on that helmet is brand new),
(4) believing one's ears rather than one's eyes (every piece has a provenence story) and
(5) looking for reasons why something is good rather than for reasons why something is bad ("it comes from a good source," "why would they fake an unusual pattern," "the colors will look different in real life." etc).

Desire is the mother of error. Walk away.

Hi Chris,

I'm not totally into FJ items, collecting german helmets and just want a couple of FJ lids. I may pick up your book sometime, but I aint buying it just to look at page 77. If you can email me page 77, or a pic of your helmet that would be great, I'll post pics here. You don't have to be an associate member to post pics, I do it all the time!

I'm not convincing myself it's real, I'm asking for opinions, which I value. If you look at helmets and headgear forum, most people seem to like it, including guys who know their stuff. So.. I am listening to knowledgeable collectors.

Overlooking the obvious, the paint is brand new? There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that paint has been there since at least 1971, as that is when my mate bought it. What I'm trying to find out, is if the vet painted it in the 50's. According to his wife he didn't. We'll see.

I do believe my eyes, which is why I won't discount it, as you suggest, until I've held it in my own hands.

Looking for reasons why it's good not bad? Nah.. I'm wanting to get a discussion going about this helmet, that's what we are all here for isn't it? To learn?

Desire is the mother of error?? Yeah.. but desire is also what leads us to find out the truth!

This is not me having a go, or defending a helmet, I'm just putting my mind at rest. If you read the other thread, you'll see the provenance is about as good as you can get, apart from bringing it back myself! I'm just covering all the options, as these items are too expensive to muck about with. The price is expensive, but cheaper than it could be from a dealer. If this is real I'm not missing it!

There are known original helmets that are quite bright, but only time will tell I suppose. If my mate lets it go, I'll travel down south and seee it first hand. Thanks for your opinions, but it would be excellent if we could see pics of your lid that looks similar to this?? As I said, feel free to email me with them and I'll post them for all to see.

[Willi Z.]

Though I generally agree with Chris's 5 points, I do like this helmet and it's camo job. Yes, it looks new.....but the cleaniness of the camo matches the helmet. I see wear patterns that I like...and a few other features that give me a good feeling. Would have to see it, touch it and smell it to know for sure. But, I do not see any areas of concern. I actually see a very small point that I really like, but don't wish to share in public because it is important on original paint jobs.

Yes, the market is full of bad FJ camos.......on fake helmets. Yes, we have all seen bad paint jobs on original helmets too. Usually one encounters a beat up helmet with a new paint job. Or an original helmet with a bad paint job that has too much wear for the condition of the helmet. That is what I call my 1st discriminator when looking when looking st a camo. Then I go from there....

Willi

[Chris]

Willi, I'd give 10 bucks to see Russ Hamilton's face if you walked that helmet up to his table at a show and said you thought it was good.

[lenny]

Willi, I'd give 10 bucks to see Russ Hamilton's face if you walked that helmet up to his table at a show and said you thought it was good.

Go on then, show us your helmet that is similar. If you email me the pic I'll post it for you.

Either that, someone post a scan of pg 77 of the book?