M35 Normandy camo, but, what the h*ll? Possibly the rarest M35 I have ever seen!
Today I got a phone call from a friend who had bought a M35 of Eban from the grandson of a WWII veteran. According to the grandson the veteran brought the helmet home when he returned to the US. I had seen this helmet on Eban too and didn't think much of it as I thought it was too worse for wear.
My friend bought it for under $100.00
Today he called me that he had received the helmet and asked me how to clean it up a bit without damaging the camo paint. I told him to come over and show me the helmet. He did, it was dusty, spider cobs on the sides, but it had only minor corrosion which surprised me because it looked much worse in the Eban pictures. One thing I noticed as soon as I saw it was that the camo wasn't the "Normandy" style at all but a discolored white with some reddish/orangy spots. Hell, I thought, weird camo but anything is possible. It certainly was original and, since it came from the vets grandson, might have been used in the battle of the bulge. Who knows?
I told him that if he wanted to make the helmet more presentable it might be best to wash it a bit under the tab and use a mild non-parfumed handsoap to get some of the grime and dirt of. After all the helmet wasn't going to get any worse by doing that in my opinion. He agreed.
When I proceeded to do this the helmet cleaned up very nicely without damaging the paint at all. Before we washed the helmet I noticed that it had a decal on the left side, my thoughts were "you lucky b*st*rd" as that wasn't clear at all in the pictures on eBay. However, with the dirt and grime on it it wasn't clear what type of decal it was. However, when I rinsed the helmet I could see what it was.
What the hell??
It was the Chinese star of the Nationalist Army!
I couldn't believe what I was seeing, but there it was!
To make a long story short, the helmet now resides in my collection.
I have contacted the seller to see where his granddad picked up this helmet.
If it was in Europe (which I find somewhat hard to believe, but hey, I would never have believed that there Chinese M35 camo helmets either) or in Asia.
Please enjoy the pictures and feel free to comment!
My friend bought it for under $100.00
Today he called me that he had received the helmet and asked me how to clean it up a bit without damaging the camo paint. I told him to come over and show me the helmet. He did, it was dusty, spider cobs on the sides, but it had only minor corrosion which surprised me because it looked much worse in the Eban pictures. One thing I noticed as soon as I saw it was that the camo wasn't the "Normandy" style at all but a discolored white with some reddish/orangy spots. Hell, I thought, weird camo but anything is possible. It certainly was original and, since it came from the vets grandson, might have been used in the battle of the bulge. Who knows?
I told him that if he wanted to make the helmet more presentable it might be best to wash it a bit under the tab and use a mild non-parfumed handsoap to get some of the grime and dirt of. After all the helmet wasn't going to get any worse by doing that in my opinion. He agreed.
When I proceeded to do this the helmet cleaned up very nicely without damaging the paint at all. Before we washed the helmet I noticed that it had a decal on the left side, my thoughts were "you lucky b*st*rd" as that wasn't clear at all in the pictures on eBay. However, with the dirt and grime on it it wasn't clear what type of decal it was. However, when I rinsed the helmet I could see what it was.
What the hell??
It was the Chinese star of the Nationalist Army!I couldn't believe what I was seeing, but there it was!
To make a long story short, the helmet now resides in my collection.
I have contacted the seller to see where his granddad picked up this helmet.
If it was in Europe (which I find somewhat hard to believe, but hey, I would never have believed that there Chinese M35 camo helmets either) or in Asia.
Please enjoy the pictures and feel free to comment!
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