Kreigsmarine DD available.

[Panzer]

Hi Guys,
I have a friend who has a Kreigsmarine DD helmet he is thinking of selling. He is not computer literate so I thought I would post it here for a look as it also seems to be a pre-war redecal example like the LW DD I posted below. Around the outer edge of the eagle appears it could be over another.....what do you all think looking at it? I realise these are very rare, but helmets are not my "thing" so I thought I would ask.

Cheers, Wade K.

[Philippe]

Hello Wade,

I feel sorry for your friend, IMO decals, KM eagle and national colors are repro, wrong shape of the eagle, wrong black background aspect, wrong national colors aspect too.

For how long did you friend got this helmet?, as I believe they are recent repro (+/- 5 years).

Best regards,


Philippe

[Panzer]

Hi Philippe,
can you elaborate on that please? Looking at the Adler decal it shows scratches and has a metalic foil base....are these being reproduced? I thought it compared very closely to several examples I have seen on a couple of other forum discussions on KM decals. I do not understand what you mean also that the aspect is wrong on the national colours.

Cheers, Wade K.

[Perry Floyd]

I can't point out anything wrong with the National shield from the photo but the Reichs Adler does look suspect..as Philippe mention the background doesnt look like the pre-war examples I've seen or presently own. Could have ben a denazified helmet that someone tried to repair the Adler decal problem.
Wade, why the "oiled" look to the helmet? Has it been heavily cleaned?

[Panzer]

Hi Perry,
thanks on that. No, the helmet hasn't been cleaned. But it's funny how misleading certain lighting can be. The helmet finish doesn't look so "wet" in the flesh. It is definately a pre-war finish, but shows no sign of being recoated.

I personally feel fine with the decal. It is lacerated & scratched in several spots and this definately shows that the decal is a foil backed type, which as far as I know has not been reproduced. It also compared quite closely with a couple of examples I have looked at on another forum's threads on the subject of KM decals. Thing is, the detail is there, the eye is there, everything is straight and it is a foil base. I'm wondering what could possibly be wrong with this?

Cheers, Wade K.

[Philippe]

Hello Wade,

I usually never post about repro, but those are new and very close to original and can fool even some experimented collectors.

Below some photos with the exact similar eagle. Look carefully the head, the right wing and the right "bigfoot". From my experience those eagle decals are repro.









Concerning the National shield, it's hard for myself, with my basic english language, to explain, but have look to the first photo you posted, have you seen the area around the National shield ? it looks odd, paint dont have the same colour outside this area, so conclusion is: someone clean up the place recently before decalling new fake National shield. Even if it is a digital picture, color of the red is wrong as for the rest and don't have the right patina (aspect), reason is the lacquer applied on it is very different of the one germans used at this time.

Just my opinion.

Philippe

[Willi Z.]

I realize it could be the photos, bu tthe whole look to the paint is that it has been varnished, oiled or waxed heavily. And, I join in the opinion that these decals do not look correct.

Willi

[Ty Smith]

Decal compare

I have to admit when I first looked at the decal I didn't notice anything. But on second look I noticed the far right claw. It was my understanding that this fat claw was a sign of a Czech repro. Please correct me if I'm incorrect.

The picture below illustrates this difference. The left decal is from the example above and the right is one from my helmet.

What do you think?

[Larry Marcella]

I believe the national shield is good and original to the helmet. The eagle is definitely a repro. Like Perry mentioned, it was probably de-nazified and someone opted to upgrade the helmet with the new decal.
Larry

[Panzer]

Hi Larry & guys.
thanks....I will pass all that on. In fact Larry...it was yours that I thought this decal compared to the best (looking at pics on another forum thread). I too feel this is probably the case, that it's been "fixed" as the paint is definately original and I feel the national colours shield is beyond reproach. The lining & chinstrap has not been dicked with either......so that is something.

Many thanks, Wade K.

[Perry Floyd]

I think the most likely scenerio was this helmet was denazified, as mentioned, then someone tried to make a DD Kreigsmarine out of it to fool someone. Plus I just don't see how lighting can make that helmet look "oily". It looks as if it had alot of rust bleed through so someone tried cleaning it to down play that. Philippe could be right on the National shield but I just can't tell from the photo alone.
Do you have any pics of the inside?

[Larry Marcella]

Here is the national shield off one of my DD Navy helmets for comparison.
Larry

[Michel]

Decal on the M35, the tricolore has been scratched.

Regards

Michel

[Matt M]

Guys
I looked at this for a while and you know the foot and the head did not stick out to me right away.

What jumped out was the chest feathers.....
Its real apparent when you see the side by side comparison Ty posted......nice job.

In my opinion that decal lacquered up like that would fool a lot of people.

Matt