SS decal opinions needed please

[PATMAN]

Hi guys,

Just got this one in and was disappointed when I got it in hand. I took a wet cloth and scrubbed the devil out of it though and it will not budge. LOTS of dirt came off the decal though and the appearance did not change. Please take a look. Supposed to be from the Falaise Gap near Trun. I got it from a good source.

[ITALIANWARFRONT]

Decal looks like printed on paper

[Tora_Tora_Tora!]

Decal looks like printed on paper

I agree with Giorgio, it seems paper glued over the rust....

[bukovinszky]

Hi guys,

Just got this one in and was disappointed when I got it in hand. I took a wet cloth and scrubbed the devil out of it though and it will not budge. LOTS of dirt came off the decal though and the appearance did not change. Please take a look. Supposed to be from the Falaise Gap near Trun. I got it from a good source.

Common fake/reproduction decal from germanhelmetdecals.com.
Looks convincing from far but larger,wider and not the best quality.

[Killerbee]

Clearly not good

[walkuren]

I have seen this type of texture before on helmets when i was in bosnia,6 years ago.It was in a little shop at Mostar and the guy told me he had more helmets like this.I had no doubt at the time that the helmets where fake as hell!

Cheers ,

Ty

[PATMAN]

sigh taken again

They got me again. This puts my "I got screwed" list up another notch. Anybody else have a bad year?
M42 helmet - original helmet and liner but lots of questions on paint 750.
Medals lot - terrible lot of worthless junk, a 2 am purchase on ebay 300.
M36 tunic - Great tunic, but the german ebayer never sent it! 700 usd
luftwaffe tropical tunic - Great tunic but again german ebayer never sent 450.
SS armband and shoulder boards (dug) - interesting but German ebayer kept the stuff and my money too (same person and pmt as the luft tunic) 125.00
FJ shell - super large size and rusty, hated on the forum 250.
FJ gravity knife - bad blade. 350.
Freis Arabies shoulder patch - apparently bad too 40.
dug german helmet with army decal 80 usd
dug german helmet with SS decal (didn't learn my lesson) 120.00
Afrikakorps cuff title 100 usd (70's fake)
Afrika cuff title 75 (received and was about 1/4 size in scale) sample?
Tank destruction badge - pic was great but german ebayer kept my money and the badge. The picture probably came from a nice reference book! 75.00
Herman Goring tabs/boards 60.00 loss (seller did refund half after shipping both ways)
German visor cap 300 usd (postwar upgrade hey, it had the ribbed tricot cloth)

So that's 3775 in losses I've incurred mostly via german ebay. The worst for me were the items never received. That makes up 1350 that I just gave away to these thieves. I'm changing my name to Total Fool and am going to collect boxtops from my kid's cereal boxes maybe from now on. Anybody as big a sucker as me?

[Massimo F.]

Don't put yourself down! just stay away from eBay.de and eBay in general, buy from people you know or you can research their reputation in the business. eBay is unfortunately hunting ground for swindlers of any kind. Most of the time shopping there for original stuff is a huge waste of time having to go through 100s of pages of cr@p... better read a nice book and shop with peace of mind elsewhere... bargains, they don't exist anymore

[Vincent S.]

Concerning the decal: You can just see those pixels with the naked eye...

About eBay: it is a great source, if you know what to look for and when to do so.
I snatch a lot of photographs of eBay, most that will never appear for sale on fairs and in mu circle of friends.

[PATMAN]

trying to get a refund/return

Well,
I'm trying to get a refund as I paid with paypal. We'll see what happens.

[DougB]

Patman, I feel for you I really do but notice the pattern of your purchasing? The definition of insanity is repeating the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

Change your purchase habits and network with the fellows who know thier stuff and you will learn and be ok.

BTW, I cannot resist this little dig not aimed at you Patman but at yet another golly gee whiz not another SS "relic" from a famous and well known battlefield....sorry, couldn't help myself...

[Toivo]

This is really sad to hear but happens. It took me a while to understand the knowledge is power, in this hobby and in others too. I suggest investing in good reference books especially on helmets and uniforms. And I would think twice on purchasing more expensive pieces of headgear or tunics from eBay. There are enough good honest sellers with genuine items on german eBay but there's a lot of conmen too!
Hope you get your money back on this one.

Toivo

[PATMAN]

thanks guys

thanks guys. I just didn't know what I was doing. Now I at least know what NOT to do I guess...thanks all.

[DougB]

We have all been there. A great hobby made better by knowledge.

[adlerfan53]

Holy crap. Sorry about the losses man. Get some books and study, study and study some more. Maybe buy some little stuff from the e-stand here. If you're gonna try and stick with the hobby you need to do a little networking and find those you can trust and stick with them as much as possible. You should even post pics here of your potential purchases and the helpful people on this forum will guide your way. Not even going to rub anything in with that decal however.