Knowing that a lot of you guys and gals have been collecting a long time I was wondering if wwe should get a thread going on some of the most unique items you have seen.
Let me start. The story on this(and I knew the Vet who brought home the item is this:
This vet came upon a German soldier lying dead next to a burning tank in Italy. Next to the tank lay the soldiers helmet which after putting the fire out on the chin strap he carried the rest of the way thru the war with him.
This helmet is a transitional helmet camoed, double decal (decals painted over). But best of all this soldier had(in white paint) printed at least twenty of the towns and campaigns he was in on it. I haven't seen the helmet in a number of years but can remember distinctly the name "KASSERINE' painted across the top and another one "OINE" painted on the side. My friend who's fathere had brought this helmet home researched some of the names and a number of them were Spanish towns.
So it would appear that this soldier had served in the Spanish Civil War as well aas in Africa and Italy. My friend still has the helmet so if I can get some pictures of it I'll post here. Not only did he get this helmet but he also got his buckle (not just any buckle) but an army buckle he had sanded the eagle off of and brazed a bronze, third place finish, sports award. A most unique thing. Of all the helmets I've seen this is the only one I've seen with the writing on it.
No. 2 - not unique but when very new to the hobby, I was friends with a vet who had been wounded and came home early. One of the items he brought home was an absolutely perfect (no scratches nothing) double decal transitional helmet. It had the light green paint and was absolutely perfect. Upon his death I had the opportunity to buy either this helmet or a 4 x 8 flag for fifty dollars. It was all I had to spend. I bought the stupid flag. I would bet that helmet today would fetch over a thousand dollars, that's how good it was.
Just to show you how much research I did early I let a dealer buy a dagger I got from a guy's attic for $250.00. I thought it was NSKK because the blade was inscribed SA slogan rather than the SS slogan. Wasn't until later I found out that a black handle with SS runes and the SA inscription was an early SS dagger. Now you see why I don't trust some dealers to much.
OK someone elses turn. Chuck
Let me start. The story on this(and I knew the Vet who brought home the item is this:
This vet came upon a German soldier lying dead next to a burning tank in Italy. Next to the tank lay the soldiers helmet which after putting the fire out on the chin strap he carried the rest of the way thru the war with him.
This helmet is a transitional helmet camoed, double decal (decals painted over). But best of all this soldier had(in white paint) printed at least twenty of the towns and campaigns he was in on it. I haven't seen the helmet in a number of years but can remember distinctly the name "KASSERINE' painted across the top and another one "OINE" painted on the side. My friend who's fathere had brought this helmet home researched some of the names and a number of them were Spanish towns.
So it would appear that this soldier had served in the Spanish Civil War as well aas in Africa and Italy. My friend still has the helmet so if I can get some pictures of it I'll post here. Not only did he get this helmet but he also got his buckle (not just any buckle) but an army buckle he had sanded the eagle off of and brazed a bronze, third place finish, sports award. A most unique thing. Of all the helmets I've seen this is the only one I've seen with the writing on it.
No. 2 - not unique but when very new to the hobby, I was friends with a vet who had been wounded and came home early. One of the items he brought home was an absolutely perfect (no scratches nothing) double decal transitional helmet. It had the light green paint and was absolutely perfect. Upon his death I had the opportunity to buy either this helmet or a 4 x 8 flag for fifty dollars. It was all I had to spend. I bought the stupid flag. I would bet that helmet today would fetch over a thousand dollars, that's how good it was.
Just to show you how much research I did early I let a dealer buy a dagger I got from a guy's attic for $250.00. I thought it was NSKK because the blade was inscribed SA slogan rather than the SS slogan. Wasn't until later I found out that a black handle with SS runes and the SA inscription was an early SS dagger. Now you see why I don't trust some dealers to much.
OK someone elses turn. Chuck
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