Helmet of Dreams

[panzer1432]

IMHO, it's fake

[Bill Hermann]

Looking at this one on a monitor rather than my phone I'm sure it's bad. Regards, Bill

[WalterB]

Bad decal and, of course, contrived wear to the medic overpaint.

[helmuthunter]

Bummer!!!!!!!!!! A holy grail combat lid for sure... but it's not

[Marc Shaffer]

Obviously, veteran purchased items are not a guarantee of authenticity. When I first started collecting, I knew about 4 older collectors in the area that visited veterans to see what they had. If the vet had something they wanted, they would find a repro of the item and swap it out under the unknowing vet's nose. Those particular people were dirt bag POSs of course. They went around screwing people in the area with bad stuff, me being one of the folks that ended up with bad stuff. This forum wasn't around when I started, so I got bad info from them along with quite a few bad items. One even told me to bring what I found to him and he would give me 10% finders fee on top of what I paid.

[Dennis J]

Obviously, veteran purchased items are not a guarantee of authenticity. When I first started collecting, I knew about 4 older collectors in the area that visited veterans to see what they had. If the vet had something they wanted, they would find a repro of the item and swap it out under the unknowing vet's nose. Those particular people were dirt bag POSs of course. They went around screwing people in the area with bad stuff, me being one of the folks that ended up with bad stuff. This forum wasn't around when I started, so I got bad info from them along with quite a few bad items. One even told me to bring what I found to him and he would give me 10% finders fee on top of what I paid.

I don't like this helmet fake decal etc.I have had this happen to me many times in the past and now....vets getting their orig. items traded out.People like this are truly the worst of the worst.

Dennis J

[Dennis S]

Was it a auction sale of VFW items or just an auction at a VFW run by an auctioneer ? I'm assuming the later. Just curious.

Could also have been a display put together at some point by the VFW no different then the mix one sees in museums.

[bigschuss]

If the thread title had been something like "Woodwork SS Medic Helmet" I would have opened it with a 99.99% certainty that the helmet was fake. The odds were not in favor of this one.

[ValhallaMilitaria]

I don't like this helmet fake decal etc.I have had this happen to me many times in the past and now....vets getting their orig. items traded out.People like this are truly the worst of the worst.

Dennis J

I have seen this too multiple times in the past, ripped off vets who sometimes have trouble seeing the details. The saddest thing, people stealing from heroes...can't get much lower than that IMO.
Eric

[dragnet]

Im afraid it wouldnt be sitting on my shelf

[tgn]

Well, I am dismayed, bewildered and happy about the conclusions.

Dismayed because what would certainly be a "dream helmet" is deemed to be fake.

Bewildered as to how this ended up in a VFW sale along with some other nice items. I heard about this "buy" from my friend about six months ago and he showed me photos of the medic helmet. I was only this week that I had the chance to see him and examine his "buy". He picked up a very original SD officer tunic, Luftwaffe officer tunic, three different KM tropical officer tunics, an army camo smock with drawstring, the SS medic helmet and another no decal camo helmet. Knowing my friend, he paid very little for the lot. So where did the SS medic helmet come from? Whoever took the time to make it received very little compensation.

And happy because now I won't lose sleep trying to devise a plan on how to get this helmet. A big mental load off my mind.

Thanks for the reviews, albeit bad ones.

Tom

[Kengir]

So where did the SS medic helmet come from? Whoever took the time to make it received very little compensation.

Wouldn't bet on that, Tom. It's probable that this helmet made a load of money for the initial faker.. but then at some point it passed into the hands of a collector who accepted the loss and sold it as a repro (I refuse to call it restored as some have done when these helmets are created and sold "artistically"). So if your friend got it for cheap it's still highly likely someone got taken for a boat load of cash at some point or another...

It sounds like he got a nice lot though. If everything else checked out I probably would have bought the whole lot as well, even with the fake helmet!

-Jeremy

[Milton]

....and of course, considering the supposed "vfw" affiliation, it begs the question of whether it was an actual "deaccession" sale of donated militaria, or was the vfw hall simpy used to host an otherwise public auction....?