New Helmet

[Jan B]

...could someone tell me the colours on the helmet .(The helmet came from north west France)thanks Rob...

Correct, this is also called the 'North-Western French camo-pattern'
No, seriously, it is indeed highly possible that this lid saw action in the Normandy-area...although these days a lot of helmets "come" from there.

Cheers

Jan

[Perry Floyd]

Sorry Rob but I would have to agree with Chris on this one...

[junior]

Very nice!

[ROBB]

Sorry Rob but I would have to agree with Chris on this one...

Hi Perry its understandable ,the pics dont show the true dirtiness and years of filth ,I have added a few more ,Rob

[ROBB]

Hi Perry its understandable ,the pics dont show the true dirtiness and years of filth ,I have added a few more ,Rob

Its a cold helmet .

[ROBB]

Its a cold helmet .

you can make out the swastika from a decal under the paint .

[Perry Floyd]

Rob why would you say the Rivets have nearly 100% of thick camo paint but the shell has a attempt to lightly brush the camo keeping away a half a inch from the rivet, yet the rivets are thickly covered? Not really keeping with the pattern either..Then look at the vents and the extremely noticable brush strokes on top of the dome, the patina.....this is the first thing that should catch your attention..

[mech91]

I'm a new collector, but I have to say that the paint on the split pins is not consistant with the paint around them. The shell and the paint on it may be original, but the helmet is messed-with. Original liner added to an original shell.
And after a second look, the same alleged brush strokes extend across more than one color of paint. The brush strokes should stop where the color ends. Sorry, but the helmet has been sand papered.

[darryl-P]

Rob,

I must also say that I don't particularly like the way this helmet looks. To me...it's artificially done and heavily age-patined/dirtied in an effort to deceive. Have a look at the chinstrap buckle...it appears that the buckle pin is cylindrical, i.e, just a pin whereas real ones are flattened at the end. Is this so or am I seeing things?

We're on your side here...just trying to save you some money if it is indeed a bad helmet.

[ROBB]

Hi Perry that dark stuff near the rivett in picture 19 is greasy dirt I can move it with my thumb nail In fact if I scrubed the whole helmet it would probably be light tan but that would be sacrilidge ,the areas of the helmet that are gritty sandy and lumpy have attracted the grime and dust ,whereas the rivetts which are smooth have not . I dont follow you on the brush strokes thing .When you paint a helmet with a brush you get brush strokes .Perry I wish you could hold it ,my 2 million pixel camera doesnt do it justice ,the washers are tight ,I really cant think of a warning bell .The bloke who sold it was French he would only sell to Europe (thus cutting out the lucrative US market )he had a poor picture he had no description he had not bought or sold any other military items 1 Euro no reserve .No latvians or Italians (no offence to any Italians)were involved ,no story ,no vet or motel buy ,no fake liner no fake chinstrap no name and number written on the inside skirt nothing . Rob

[ROBB]

Darryl to late its mine paid for .Yes the pin is round ,I know you are on my side and I appreciate it ,I feel its going to need a hands on inspection by an independant expert here in the UK .got any ideas ? Rob

[Perry Floyd]

Rob on small pics like on this forum (ex. 740X600) pixel strength doesnt play a part like you think it would. You will see brush stokes when a brush was used to camo a helmet but it wont show like that...

Get a pipe, board, old mailbox, etc,. and but a couple of coats of paint on it, let it cure for a couple weeks then run fine sandpaper over it a few times, then take a picture. You will notice right off the brush strokes stand out more...

[ROBB]

I disagree ,there you are in the battle zone and your commander says "achtung painten zee helmets schnell" you look around find an old shed with a paintbrush not of the finest quality bristle and you paint your helmet which is already a bit dirty and greasy , the commander comes back and says "pigdogs! your helmets are still wet ,dry zem now" so you put them by the exhaust pipes on a King Tiger and so they dry up , the poor quality paint(which has been previously sabotaged by slave labourers )and the poor conditions for painting together with an unprepred surface and poor quality bristle have caused the brushstrokes to appear . As for the cylindrical bit on the chinstrap ,quite clearly like you and I chew our pens ,the original owner chewed the flat bit of his chinstrap buckle .Rob

[darryl-P]

Wow! You really WANT this helmet to be real. That's quite the scenario you put forth there. Rob, it could well be a good helmet but for me it just doesn't have it...if you know what I mean. The bad chinstrap (I believe the whole strap to be a recent repro) just adds to the sour taste in my mouth.

PS - a good trick to determine if the paint is real is to take a sharp needle or pin and try and push it into the paint where it is thickest. Real paint that is decades old will have turned as hard as concrete and will resist any such pressure. However, newer paint will still be relatively soft and the pin will indeed be able to be pushed into the paint. Of course, try this in a relatively out of the way spot.

[ROBB]

Ok Darryl I will try it ,just as a matter of interest there was a helmet discussed earlier with clear brushstrokes that was declared good ,right Im off to do the pin test ,if I dont get back to you shortly its because I am trying to work out a way of putting it back on ebay without you lot noticing ,..................................