Hello folks,
I met a collector who is getting rid of a large portion of his collection a few days ago. He is mainly a collector of US WWII and WWI gear. However, he does have a few German items including a M35 helmet.
The helmet as a double-decal Army. However, there are at least two layers of paint on top of the decals - a dark green and a light green coat. Portions of both layers of the paint have eroded away to reveal portions of each decal.
However, there are a few characteristics of the helmets that led me to question it authenticity.
First, the chinstrap is not attached to the liner D-rings by the type pins that I have normally seen. This chinstrap is actually affixed the the D-rings by either two or three legitimate rivets. (I cant remember if it was two or three rivets) The chinstrap is basically riveted to itself. Also, the chinstrap is not a wide as what I have seen on other helmets. No marker mark on the chinstrap. The chinstrap would have to be cut into to be taken off the helmet.
Any thoughts on the chinstrap that I have described?
Second the helmet features a red-yellow-black tri-color decal in addition to the two painted-over decals. This red-yellow-black decal is painted on top of the two different coats of green paint. This strange decal is found next to the the painted over tri-color decal.
Any thoughts on the red-yellow-black tri-color shield?
For what its worth, the liner looked OK to me. Stiching continued up throught the finger. I did not remove the liner from the helmet to examine the liner band. Rivets/washers looked OK, too.
Sorry, no photos.
All help appreciated.
Calvin
I met a collector who is getting rid of a large portion of his collection a few days ago. He is mainly a collector of US WWII and WWI gear. However, he does have a few German items including a M35 helmet.
The helmet as a double-decal Army. However, there are at least two layers of paint on top of the decals - a dark green and a light green coat. Portions of both layers of the paint have eroded away to reveal portions of each decal.
However, there are a few characteristics of the helmets that led me to question it authenticity.
First, the chinstrap is not attached to the liner D-rings by the type pins that I have normally seen. This chinstrap is actually affixed the the D-rings by either two or three legitimate rivets. (I cant remember if it was two or three rivets) The chinstrap is basically riveted to itself. Also, the chinstrap is not a wide as what I have seen on other helmets. No marker mark on the chinstrap. The chinstrap would have to be cut into to be taken off the helmet.
Any thoughts on the chinstrap that I have described?
Second the helmet features a red-yellow-black tri-color decal in addition to the two painted-over decals. This red-yellow-black decal is painted on top of the two different coats of green paint. This strange decal is found next to the the painted over tri-color decal.
Any thoughts on the red-yellow-black tri-color shield?
For what its worth, the liner looked OK to me. Stiching continued up throught the finger. I did not remove the liner from the helmet to examine the liner band. Rivets/washers looked OK, too.
Sorry, no photos.
All help appreciated.
Calvin
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