Questions of taste..

[Patrick Dempsey]

Hello all,
a previous thread regarding a potential first helmet purchase, sparked this off. Amongst the (Good) advice on offer were comments emphasizing that overall condition generally was paramount in making a choice of what to buy.
This i agree with, but as was also mentioned, taste is a very subjective thing..what makes me go in a helmet can quite easily make another go . For me,i come from a uniforms background.To that end, if i have a complete ensemble with fieldgear that has wear to it, naturally i would wish to set it off with a helmet that mirrors the overall look of the display...although now i'm enjoying helmets as collectibles in their own right too, so good clean examples also excite me.
Basically this thread is about your "Oddball" or "Misfit" helmets. The ones which are not jaw dropping, don't command the highest prices,but are still special to you. To kick off here is one of mine which has a large amount of wear/weathering to the shell, which from a distance ,almost gives it a camo flavour.

It can't just be me...can it ?

Patrick.

[Patrick Dempsey]

The other side.

Side two. All over even wear.

[Patrick Dempsey]

Decal.

The decal area..had a major smack at some point.Also shows the age toning to the shell quite well too.


Patrick.

[Konigstiger]

well i like it, every helmet i buy has some rust and wear on it, id never buy a "mint" helmet, they are way too expensive and always faked.

[Jan B]

I agree with Patrick, I too buy helmets to complete a display, so always try to get an 'has been there' example, because the mannequins I have are all combat set-ups. If you're setting up a waffenrock, a minty dd would be great offcourse...

Koningstiger, I wouldn't say that mint helmets are always repro's, in fact the fakers of today age them so much to hide the red flags!

I like helmets, uniforms and fieldgear of a specific branche, so it's impossible to spend my budget only on camo's, chickenwires, dd,etc...because the purpose is 'to complete', offcourse that doesn't mean that I don't like them, I really do! And I study them, so if a "bargain" pop up, I definatly buy it

Cheers

Jan

[Pieter Verbruggen]

well i like it, every helmet i buy has some rust and wear on it, id never buy a "mint" helmet, they are way too expensive and always faked.

...Expensive, oké......always faked, I do not agree...

Mint, unissued items are much easyer to evaluate than e.g. the well used, battlefield repros that come e.g. from the East...

Pieter.

[Konigstiger]

i dont mean that mint items are always fake im just saying that alot of the time the stuff thats faked is sold as Mint. i believe that there is a much better chance that something is real when it shows its age and wear.

[Luftm40]

For me, "mint is best" pertains to other items. With a combat helmet, I prefer to see field use. To me, that is what gives a combat helmet it's collectibility. With the early DD helmets I do prefer very nice condition, but still not stone mint. Brown steel peeking thru the worn areas, dusty interiors, aging leather...to me these are the best things to see in a helmet...To me, mint helmets look odd and out of place. Just my preference.