If only this helmet could talk.....what a history..... with all the places traveled to, all the battles fought in, and all the things seen. This is what I really enjoy about veteran, battle worn, military artifacts.
I was lucky enough to find this M35 double decal Waffen-SS helmet in March of 2013. It sat on a table at a show I do three times a year on the west coast of Florida, with a collector whom I had never met before, and was passed over time and again simply because of it's battle worn appearance. As soon as I saw it we did a deal and I became it's new caretaker. Prior to the collector I got it from having found it, it had never been in another "collection" but kept as a simple war souvenir. He had found it at a garage sale where it had sat on a shelf in the garage for many years but unfortunately the veteran was long deceased so no information was available as to where it was liberated from, or how.
The helmet is an early SE62 in apple green with a reworked fieldgray repaint and a reapplied second overlapping SS decal, which was then topped by a "Normandy" camo paint scheme in a brickish red/brown color. One of the great things about this veteran helmet is how nice the liner is, given it's hard life. Another thing which is neat is how the chin strap actually has an impressed "channeling" to the strap ends which cinch up against the helmets bill. It seems obvious to me that the soldier must have worn this helmet in this fashion a lot and that it was probably like this since it's capture.
Anyway, I hope you like it!
Regards,
Chuck
I was lucky enough to find this M35 double decal Waffen-SS helmet in March of 2013. It sat on a table at a show I do three times a year on the west coast of Florida, with a collector whom I had never met before, and was passed over time and again simply because of it's battle worn appearance. As soon as I saw it we did a deal and I became it's new caretaker. Prior to the collector I got it from having found it, it had never been in another "collection" but kept as a simple war souvenir. He had found it at a garage sale where it had sat on a shelf in the garage for many years but unfortunately the veteran was long deceased so no information was available as to where it was liberated from, or how.
The helmet is an early SE62 in apple green with a reworked fieldgray repaint and a reapplied second overlapping SS decal, which was then topped by a "Normandy" camo paint scheme in a brickish red/brown color. One of the great things about this veteran helmet is how nice the liner is, given it's hard life. Another thing which is neat is how the chin strap actually has an impressed "channeling" to the strap ends which cinch up against the helmets bill. It seems obvious to me that the soldier must have worn this helmet in this fashion a lot and that it was probably like this since it's capture.
Anyway, I hope you like it!
Regards,
Chuck
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