Relic SS M42

[darryl-P]

Marty,
I must admit that I like the look of this one better than the other one we just discussed. It seems to have the correct shape and the remaining silver looks not too bad either. However, the decal is too far gone to be absolutely sure with pictures only. An in-hand inspection would be necessary for this one.

[Stephen Revill]

Darryl, Can you explain to me a bit more on how the base of an original SS decal should look. Looking at mine and Marty's, the bases appear to be the same, ie rounded. You did say that the point at the base can sometimes be subtle, but how subtle can the difference be ?

[darryl-P]

Stephen,
As someone once said...a picture is worth a thousand words. If you do a search for "SS decal" here at the forum you should find what you're looking for. Basically all SS decals came to a point at the bottom...however subtle.

[JuanS]

Well

It is very confusing. I just bought 2 reference books about SS helmets and I am more confused. I am posting a detail of an original decal in page 47 of the first volume. This decal has similarities with the SS relic helmet decal; especially look that the right border bend start lower than the left and the angle is different in both sides.

Confused Juan

[JuanS]

decal



I took the picture away, so I do not help fakers eitheir.

Confused Juan

[darryl-P]

Juan,
I have put the two images side by side so you can compare...still confused? Remember that the fakers are doing their best to confuse us all so you have to look very closely and see the subtle differences.

[JuanS]

Thanks

Looking both side by side there are differences. One of the major problems is as we have discussed before even the reference books have fakes on them.

Juan

[darryl-P]

Juan,
No problem...glad to be of some small help. Yes, reference books do unfortunately have inaccuracies here and there. However, I do believe that you will find that Kelly's books are accurate as will Mike Beaver's SS helmet reference when it comes out later this year.

Just so you know, I will now remove that comparison pic since I don't want to give the fakers any advantage whatsoever.

[Ty Smith]

I know that book. In my opinion the one on the left is correct.

Look at the tip at the bottom and where the decal starts to slope downward on the left compared to the right.

[SgtB]

Now you're confusing me, Juan!

I'm looking at that decal on page 47 and it looks totally symmetrical to me. Many original decals do exhibit slight imperfections, but you have to learn to see passed them
to judge the decal's true intent. Sometime the break on
one side may be a bit more rounded than the one on the other side. Or maybe the tip at the bottom might not quite come to a
little point exactly the way it should. The one immediately
before it, on the printing press, may have been nice and sharp,
and the one immediately after it,too. But on the one you have,maybe there was just a tad bit more "paint" at that
particular spot, and it came out slightly rounded. It's all just
a judgement call and like anything else can only come with
lots of experience studying as many known originals and fakes
as one can. I do feel sorry for some of these younger collector's
that are starting out today. They really have thier work cut
out for them. Back in the 70's, while there were fewer originals
out in circulation, those that were,were obviously real. The fake
decals were terrible. Nowadays many of the young collectors
have never seen a real SS helmet up close. They may think they
have - but there are so many really good pieces of junk out
there that they don't know what they are looking at. I've had
a half dozen good SS helmets over the years and a couple of
crappers too. I've handled hundreds more - and I'm still at the
outer limits of my abilities when trying to appraise some of the
pieces I see these days. You have to remember that for every
guy just trying to make an honest buck, there are five trying to
fool you.

[Rolf D.]

Maybe this will help...

Take a look at this helmet's decals especially the swaz decal...

in the least it will make a great conversation piece or up grade to a true "m-40 dd xx. shell is large possibly a size 66. and it is what it is. bid with confidence this is the real thing

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=2185737164

[Ty Smith]

Whatever