DAK Palm tree hand painted insignia on helmet

[JohnB]

Gentlemen,
Just to keep this discussion down to earth, back in the 1980s and early 1990s a notorious dealer from the east coast painted an AK palm tree and swastika on every tropical helmet that he touched. Back then shows were every month or so. I would go to a show one month and see a tropical camo. The next month it would have an AK palm tree. That pattern repeated itself many many times over.

I have never seen a tropical german helmet with an original palm tree that I was 100% convinced of. I have looked at many, and that is why I am content with the AK water bottle above.
John

[Dan P]

I'm sure many, many fakes of this insignia have been done over the years. I'm only trying to point out that, in my opinion, it was quite possibly wartime applied. Since period photos show this insignia on tanks and other armored vehicles, I'd be surprised if it WASN'T wartime applied to some helmets, albeit in small numbers. I'm not sure why some people think this is so utterly inconceivable.

Dan

[Perry Floyd]

In my opinion it was most likely done and done at the individuals choice and is very rare to find today.
Even though I have'nt seen a period picture of one I cannot dismiss the examples that look right and the possibilty that out of all the men that served in the Afrika Korps, not one thought to paint this emblem(that was already widely used by them) on his helmet.

[Spanish Freiwillige]

I do consider that if the men considerd theselves an elit unit, and painted the emblem on jerry cans, tanks and vehicles, i quite possitve that they might have done it in the helmets, take the first example<posted the fact that it has both white and read painte are characteristics that we find on other original DAK helmets.

the name painted in red for example, now we also know that soldiers and units sometime did stencil insignia on helmets, then why not in this case. The helmet picturesd seems quite convincing to me the overall wear to it and how the emblem is stenciled, I believ that this was done at an individual leverl 100% and that although a lot of replicas do exista thatt due to the time when they were don look old; I am sure that originals do exist.

[Bob Lyons]

Yes I do agree that some one probably did paint up a helmet perhaps, but in what context, the combat helmets were done for a purpose, and front line troops didn't have that much time on their hands, maybe it would be more a helmet for a person in a rear position. (and when the troops were in rest areas they probably had other things on their minds, but maybe it happened..), the more colourful DAK items all seem to come from POW's who did have some time on their hands, and Nooky, I am not dismissing it, just would like to see an original photo at some stage, but I am not holding my breath.

If you want a laugh see the 'orrible palm tree and swaz painted on the tan para helmet in the old 'Histoire & Collections' DAK book. I think there was another M35 with palm tree painted on as well from memory???

Bob

[Dan P]

Yes I do agree that some one probably did paint up a helmet perhaps, but in what context, the combat helmets were done for a purpose, and front line troops didn't have that much time on their hands, maybe it would be more a helmet for a person in a rear position. (and when the troops were in rest areas they probably had other things on their minds, but maybe it happened..), the more colourful DAK items all seem to come from POW's who did have some time on their hands, and Nooky, I am not dismissing it, just would like to see an original photo at some stage, but I am not holding my breath.

Bob

I've started my search for a period photo, but I'm not holding my breath either.

I think front line soldiers probably had plenty of time to waste. You know the old saying - combat is hours of bordom followed by a few minutes of terror - or something like that. I'm sure they had 5 minutes to paint a stick figure palm tree/swastika on the side of their helmet, we're not talking Van Gogh here. There, I just drew a fairly convincing one in about 15 seconds.

Dan

[Bob Lyons]

Hi Dan

I'm not really setting out to let all of the air out of your tyres, and yes I do see your point, BUT... how many combat soldiers carried around a paint brush and paint with them???

(Yeah I know, rear ech types can get anything) Luft soldiers tended to get more of a choice of how to paint their helmets than their Heer counterparts, with spray finishes etc, and lower unit level Heer troops would get a can of paint and a thick paint brush, and all helmets would get done in one sitting (generally speaking) but an individual may have had other means at his disposal, I await that photo your looking for..

The previous helmets shown here sure look like they could be of the period, but as stated, there is a lot of the old Hollywood type of after the war paint finishes about which tend to muddy the water a bit on this issue, and make 'em all a worry, it is up to the individual to make the final decision on what to put on the shelf and what not to, and I am just playing 'devils advocate' here!!

Bob

[Maple Creek]

DAK decal

Here's a scanned image from a helmet from my collection. I bought this from a dealer in London in 1973 for about $45, which seemed like a lot of money at the time. I'm pretty comfortable that this is original. I bought it well before elaborate fakery became common and I don't think the aging evident on this helmet was plausable for a 1973 vintage purchase. In addition, the dealer (can't remember his name) had a lot of very nice, clearly original pieces. He scoured Eastern Europe and North Africa for military relics well before other dealers were searching this territory. In his shop he had a derelict, desiccated Kubelwagen that he said came out of the shifting sands somewhere in North Africa. The helmet may have come from North Africa as well, but I don't recall asking. So I suppose the authenticity of this piece could be debated and probably will be (Brian Bell thought the national colors didn't look quite right), but, for what it's worth, I think this one is OK.

I can't really tell how the decal was made. The outline is pretty sharp, so I think it was maybe a stencil.

[Maple Creek]

Left Side

Left

[Maple Creek]

Nc

NC

I'm having trouble posting high resolution photos on the WA website - sorry!

[calebd]

Nice helmet

[Spanish Freiwillige]

Very nice lid, just a few questions pop into my head, being a DD, does it have traces of the Heer Adler under the stenciled insignia, I would find it odd that it would have the national color decal and no heer adler.

Maybe the heer adler war removed or scraped off and then this proud Afrika Korps soldier painted his unit emblem....

[Maple Creek]

Heer decal underneath?

It seems to have traces of a Heer decal underneath. You can detect outlines of a black shield behind the palm tree decal. I can't detect the eagle, however.

[Spanish Freiwillige]

Being that the case I gues the idea of a DD is justified and the lid is Ok, yet this has been fackkes so much and a lot of these fackes are beggining to look old as well. Is the white paint of the stenciled palm tree a bit yellow in clolor or just dark?

[ROBB]

Well a double decal M40 Heer is a very rare bird indeed ,and the chinstrap looks odd ,have you a picture of the liner . Rob.