The helmet painter.

[ccmax]

Helmet restoration site.

http://www.thehelmetpainter.com

[Edelweiss]

I already see the future victims...

[darryl-P]

A faker by any other name.....

These artists always states that they're not responsable for the fakes in the collectionworld, I find this explication rather hypocrit.

Although he sells them as ' reproduction', on the other hand some ***holes sell them further as genuine.

Why doesn't he labels his helmets on the inside with sort of red mark or a cold stamp in the shell, etc...

Many of these must be in collections for sure...as their centerpiece!!

[Ken B.]

Jan,
Good idea. Most artists sign their work don't they? So why not this guy? You think he would be proud to have his work out there in public although I totally disagree with what he's doing, ruining good helmets like that. THATS SCARY. From what I see the lids look pretty darn good.

Ken

[Peter_Suciu]

I think blaming fakes on these restorations is a little harsh. There are a lot of people who would like a nice helmet but can't afford a real one, or at justify the price. However I do think that restorations should be labeled as such.

I do know one collector who "restores" helmets but he actually takes things a step further to make sure that these aren't sold as real. He uses a metal stamp and punches in the word "reproduction" with the year of the restoration. I'm sure that can be grinded out but it would result in a strange bare patch.

I recently purchases a restoration American WWII paratrooper helmet, mainly because I can't justify spending thousands of dollars on a real one. I saw one M1C helmet go for $6000 on eBay! This helmet is close but it isn't going to fool any American helmet experts. I think the same thing can be said about these restorations.

[nick]

Hi

First of all. I HATE THIS SITE .

Jan, thats a very good idea. Maybe we can make a little petition with all the helmet collectors on this forum. Everybody can gives his opinion (in a decent way), put it togheter and with some co-operation from Seba send this guy the e-mail. That should be a little help to stop some very good fake helmets sneeking into a serious collectors collection.
Hope everybody understands what I'm saying?

Hello Peter

There are a lot of people who would like a nice helmet but can't afford a real one

I can not agree with you on this. for example, I can't either affort a parahelmet or a DD ss-helmet, but that doesn't mean that I can't buy a nice untouched SD M42, which he is also selling as restored?! The prices that this guy is asking for an ordinary M42 SD is around 125$ + an additional 50 $ if you want a special texture...including some shipping, that would be around 200 $ for a helmet with no historical value...
with some luck and some saving, you pay a little bit more for a good one, so I don't think that his guys ' customers are always people who can't affort them

I would rather buy a luftshutz or a firebrigade helmet for that money, at least I know that they're good and have a history.

I do know one collector who "restores" helmets but he actually takes things a step further to make sure that these aren't sold as real. He uses a metal stamp and punches in the word "reproduction" with the year of the restoration

Now, that's the way it should be. This marking doesn't make any difference for a re-enactor or a collector who just buy this for display in his living-room, but it does make a difference for the 'bad guys'. I'm convinced that a lot of the buyers of these helmets, are people with bad intentions..

This helmet is close but it isn't going to fool any American helmet experts. I think the same thing can be said about these restorations.

Yep, you're right, but why are so many 'good' fakes are sold as genuine? Due to the lack of knowledge of the collector, which IMO shouldn't need all this information if fakes didn't existed.

I'm aware that you should make a difference between a person who restore helmets / someone who make totally new reproductions (look at the M42's that are made by G-max) AND dealers who sells these as genuine...but at the end it's the honest collector who feel's the pain

Just my opinion

Kind regards

Jan

[nick]

Hi

Well said Jan.
I totaly agree with you.

[Edelweiss]

So do I ; but about the stamping, it can't be a solution : "mine has no metal stamp, so it's genuine". Nothing will never replace whisdom, knowledge of one's own collection field and experience, of course ; and surely not a stamping, or anything else.
Why can't people simply start to built a collection AND their own experience by buying "a luftshutz or a firebrigade helmet for that money", as these are "good and have a history" ????

My collection would surely make some among you smile ; but I don't need to have a DD WSS helmet to feel happy (well I wouldn'd be sad if I had one ) : what I want from my helmets (and other items) is to TALK to me. And believe me or not, a simple Luftschutz helmet has a very more interesting conversation than any of these "restorated ones". What the hell such a rebuild will ever have to say ?

"Mehr sein als scheinen" : I guess many collectors schould really try to understand what that means...

[crown.point]

For what it's worth, I believe that The Helmet Painter stamps his restorations. I have heard that he punches in 'THP' next to the size stamp.

[Peter_Suciu]

Jan, thats a very good idea. Maybe we can make a little petition with all the helmet collectors on this forum. Everybody can gives his opinion (in a decent way), put it togheter and with some co-operation from Seba send this guy the e-mail. That should be a little help to stop some very good fake helmets sneeking into a serious collectors collection.

That is absolutely ridiculous! If you read The Helmet Painter’s FAQ it clearly says that he even tries to keep these helmets from being sold to those he believes will sell them as fakes. And why stop a guy like this, who is really just providing a service?

I’m not saying I would ever use his service. I wouldn’t. As a collector of German helmets I want untouched original examples. But there are people that may want a good looking copy because they might not be able to afford a real helmet. I know it was mentioned that a no decal M42 could be had for equal money, but I don’t think that is the point. If a person, who is not necessarily a collector, wants a DD M35 SS helmet they can have a decent copy.

I think what bothers me about your opinions is that you are attempting to create censorship because you want to protect yourself when making future purchases. Maybe you should concentrate instead on finding dealers that you trust and not worry about guys like The Helmet Painter. There are already others that are creating replica helmets for re-enactors and for display so why are you attacking this one person? Worse still there are probably dozens of people who are creating fakes and selling them as real.

There is clearly a network of people creating fakes in the Czech Republic and Italy that create paratrooper helmets and selling them as real. These people don’t have a Web site or advertise their items. Stopping The Helmet Painter isn’t going to make fakes go away.

The bottom line is that if someone owns a German helmet shell, or even something similar like Spanish, etc., they should have the right to have it painted and this guy is offering a service. He isn’t doing so with the intention of flooding the market with fakes. He isn’t using some kind of lost alchemy to match the paint colors. There are plenty of fakes out there, from what I’ve seen guys like The Helmet Painter, Robert Clawson and Brian Bell create examples that look really good, but lack the aging that you’d expect to find in a real helmet that has been around for 60+ years! Yes, those things can be faked, but why attack these guys?

[Perry Floyd]

But some that have been named (maybe on this thread, maybe not) have sold what they have made as original. There is the problem.....

[Peter_Suciu]

But some that have been named (maybe on this thread, maybe not) have sold what they have made as original. There is the problem.....

Perry, you make a good point and maybe I was a little quick to defend this guy. But the idea of a petition just seems excessive. It also has nothing behind it, other than a bunch of members of the Wehrmacht Awards Forum are upset.

There are already some dealers that are convinced members of this forum are "out to get them." I don't believe as collectors it is our place to go out and launch attacks against dealers. We should inform each other of what we know and share our experiences as collectors, but I don't believe that means trying to change the way someone does business.

It is sad that some of this guy's work end up getting sold as the real deal. I don't believe he is intentionally selling fakes, unlike whoever is producing those fake Czech paratrooper helmets.

Maybe, and just maybe, the better way to handle it would be to talk to The Helmet Painter and see if he would look at photos of questionable helmets when they come up for sale. That might be a better solution than merely saying, "we're a group of collectors and we don't want to get stung by your fakes...stop making them."

[Chuck Ferguson]

The guy does state that he marks the helmets as repros. He doesn't state what a "micro stamp" is, however.

From website:

"4) All finished helmets have a small micro stamp on the interior skirt next to the size stamping identifying it as my work. This is a non-negotiable condition. Remember, someday, that helmet is not going to be in your hands anymore. That's the person we have to worry about. Yes, my helmets have been resold as originals. Yes, it pisses me off. No, it won't happen again."