Irish Model 1926 Helmet

[pfschgo]

Yes, always have had a weak spot for the Irish Free State. I'd love to have an example with badge. Well done, Ron!
Paul

[luftwaffenkopf]

a beautiful and rare example! i have one as well with the original chinstrap but no badge, the badges are rare on these. i'll have to post mine when i get home.

one note on it's rarity. only about 10,000 were produced but most, about 6,000, were destroyed for use as foundation of some government building before the war for shortage of steel. the rest were used for civil defence during wwii hence the white wash paint. so less than 4,000 exist today. i'd wager to say way less. it's rarer than an M18 Cutout for sure.

[luftwaffenkopf]

and here's mine, the liner is complete with correct grey pillows...

http://www.PictureTrail.com/gid17277922

[Gulli]

Hallo

Yes a very very nice and rare helmet you got there.
I'v been hunting for one of those for a couple of years now.
Hard to find I must say.

But.
Tell me , was'n it Vickers Ltd of Birmingham who made them for the Irish?
Regards
Gulli

[langemarck]

But.
Tell me , was'n it Vickers Ltd of Birmingham who made them for the Irish?
Regards

yes it was.
those helmet badges are rare, but it is even more dificult to find an helmet with the original green color. almost all of the helmets still remaining are repainted in white.
regards Ivan

[luftwaffenkopf]

that white wash would not be hard to take off to reveal the original black/green finish, but why mess with history?
i suspect that many black/green M27s available today are just carefully stripped of their white wash. true black/greens are quite rare indeed.
Vickers LTD made them under German license. the quality of these M27 shells is very shotty, not like the original M16 they resemble, but the leather quality is superb and the leather is still flexible, even wearable after all these years; the German M16 leather liners don't even come close.

[MartyC]

nice

A nice original helmet which is no surprise since Ron is posting it. Note the rust on the white paint which will give some collectors who think they know what they are looking at a stroke.

Marty

[langemarck]

here's one with a badge.
Ivan

[RonR]

Ivan,

Wonderful!

Best regards,

[DJT]

I suspect a lot more than 4000 of these survive. If there are only 4000 surviving helmets that means I personally owned 1% of all surviving examples which i find very hard to believe. My grandfather sourced dozens of them for me in the early 1990s from the Curragh. Of course I was young and stupid and didn't keep one. I remember one example in particular that was absolutely mint. I often wonder where that is, I would love to have it back. Oh well.

[PJR]

nice, would love to know more about these, obviously the badges are like hens or rooster teeth

[paddywhack]

finding one of these with the original badge is even harder! and i agree with des they arnet that rare as only 4000 left as you could get them up till 95 but nobody wanted them!! oh how that has changed!!

[langemarck]

finding one of these with the original badge is even harder! and i agree with des they arnet that rare as only 4000 left as you could get them up till 95 but nobody wanted them!! oh how that has changed!!

oh yes indeed, in the '90 I bought 4 or 5 from someone from Ireland, all without badge. Nobody wanted them!!It takes me 10 more years to find a badge, meanwhile a had placed a cap badge for presentation.
I think the story about the 4000 helmets left can be true, because nowdays they are very hard to find.
Regards Ivan

[Neeley91592]

Very nice find sir these helmets are rare, weren't the suppossed to be destroyed after the war. Also, do you have a MkII helmet that the Irish used? They are a lot easier to come across like around 200 to 400 USD depending upon condition.



Thanks

[bjack]

Resurrecting and old thread here... Can anyone tell me what one of these irish Vickers helmet helmets go for in decent shape?