Heer SD M35

[Brian C.]

Here is a Heer SD M35 I just picked up today at a local antique mall. It is marked EF 66 and 21509. It has a salty liner with one torn tongue and the decal is about 75%. The chinstrap has been shortened and will not fit over the brim. I got it for the whopping price of $330.

[Brian C.]

liner

[Brian C.]

decal

[Brian C.]

The liner is pretty dry and fragile. It is a size 58 and has a slight reddish tint to it.

[Perry Floyd]

Yours is a reissue.
Thanks for sharing

[Edelweiss]

Brian,

I was afraid when I read "reddish tint", but fortunately, it is not the case : the leather just received a generous treatment to prevent it from cracking.

A very salty M.35 reissued helmet, but 100 % right.

[Brian C.]

It looks like the treatment made the leather worse off than if it had been left alone. The other two helmets' liners I own have not been treated and are in much better shape.

Thanks,

Brian

[Perry Floyd]

Do you know what was used by chance?

[Brian C.]

I can't tell what was put on it, but the liner has a kind of faint maple syrup smell to it. Whatever treatment was used did not soak very deep into the leather, but the untreated backside is very dry and brittle. Maybe whatever was put on the leather pulled the moisture out towares the treated side, almost like it was alcohol based.

P.S. Perry, what would be a good estimate of this helmet's value considering its overall condition?

[Perry Floyd]

It worth about what you gave for it....
If it was vaseline it will go away after several years, looks like it was recently applied..

[Brian C.]

Perry,

What is the best way to tell a reissue M35 from a SD M35? Looking at this mine, I can't tell that a national decal had ever been there under the paint, and the inside of the helmet is not an apple or light green color. What was the giveaway when you saw it? (I'm still learning something new every time I visit this site!)

Thanks,

Brian

(I may have answered my own question--Would a true SD M35 be apple or light green inside and out but with only one decal applied from the factory?)

[Perry Floyd]

Correct Brian these were done in the transition period (same time as M40DD) they are very rare although encounterd just a little more than the M40 in pre-war configuration. Yours was a DD in pre-war configuration once, then factory redone giving it new rough wartime paint and a new decal, replacing the liner as well. Yours is a M35SD reissue. Does this help or are you still confused

Here's a pic of a M35SD Luftwaffe. Notice the pre-war semigloss Luft. blue. It just wasn't given a national shield. This one was whitewashed at one time as well..

[Perry Floyd]

.

[Brian C.]

Makes sense to me.

Thanks for the info.