Opinion on Helmet & Painted Eagle

[darksidesw]

Hello all!
Ok, here's the deal on this lid...I bought it at the recent SOS show.
The outside and inside rim is painted black with brush strokes visible. The dome is original paint and has a dome stamp.

My first thought was that I was going to strip the painted eagle off and I'd have a pretty nice lid. Then I thought it would be nice to use as parts; remove the liner since it's a really nice one.

Then when I thought about it....I thought could the painted eagle be period? It's well done. Plus you can tell the swastika was scraped off long ago. Why would someone who painted it post-war with a swastika then scrape it off?

I'm just kinda confused what to think of the black paint and painted eagle!

Opinions!?!!?! Thanks-Jeff

[dagoromagna]

Jeff,
here's what I'd do with this helmet...just MY opinion.
Since the liner and dome paint are good I'd leave them that way.
Someone postwar painted a LW eagle (wrongly sided) and, always postwar, someone didn't like the swastika.
Since the painted eagle is misplaced/canted I'd try to remove paint beginning from inside, then, when you're confortable with the technique, I'd try to see if in the vicinity/under the painted insignia there's a decal (They're my eyes or there's a ghost wing over the painted right wing????).

Just my 2.
G.

[jerryrehr]

Leave it alone it is what it is. Post war painted eagle for the tourist/GI trade.
Jerry

[ValhallaMilitaria]

Leave it alone it is what it is. Post war painted eagle for the tourist/GI trade.
Jerry

This.

[darksidesw]

Helmet

Honestly, I am thinking about stripping the post-war eagle paint job off. And dagoromagna was right, I can see pretty well the original Luft eagle under the paint!

[darksidesw]

uncovered

Well, I did it.
The post-war eagle came off with ease and the original decal was under the black paint. I didn't completely uncover it. I think it looks ok, not perfect but I'm happy with the results.