SS pith helmets

[Tim O'Keefe]

Hi Chris

Well thanks alot for setting me straight
Will further my education. But if You already know the answer, why do You ask me the question...

maybe next time
Tim

[Edelweiss]

Tim, a collector never stops learning: some details you pointed out are interesting and may well lead in a reciprocal "furthering" of our respective educations, so please don't take my comments in a too bad way. About pith helmet's differences between the three branches of the Wehrmacht, search the forum for a big thread related to that : you'll see that even with the different liner's colors, it's far to be a straight and simple subject. And about foreign reissued piths, I think it would also be interesting to start a specific thread too, one of these days.

Now, to get back to your point (and to answer one of your "private" questions), yes the holes were "pre-popped" before the shields were placed. It's quite obvious on most piths (see below) and this should not be taken as a sign of tampering. I also added a period photo (I eventually found it) depicting this operation - done one hole at a time and by hand - at the factory. Without this preliminary work, placing the shields on the helmet would bring various results, from "acceptable" to really "messy", especially with shields having flat (more "bendable") prongs. Not to speak about worker's nervous breakdowns as another possible negative consequence.

As far as I can tell, it was even the case for foreign reissued piths. Most of them were also stamped-out in one way or another before the shields were placed. This denotes a relative consistency in the process, at the factory and depot level as well, even if exceptions surely occured too. Now, observation on items will highlight the fact that the tools used for this "pre-popping" purpose were not absolutely identical everywhere, and even that "improvised" tools were very likely used too. Not really surprising in a wartime fabrication "en masse" of such a lid (not to speak of reissues), after all they were not building V2s... So, different kinds of holes, different kinds of prongs, different kinds of workers that punched the former and bent the latter, added to the different ways these helmets were later used on the field and worn... Yes, I would definitively look far beyond this particular point to judge (and dismiss in the present case) a german pith helmet.

Else, I'm not yet aware whether a specific factory got the contract for the fabrication of SS pith helmets. Their little number may plead in favor of this, but at the same time don't really help knowing much about it. All in all, far too little to build a theory yet ; but nevertheless it could be an interesting field of research. A last point : the number of factories apart, I would really be surprised if the "basis" that would have been used to make a SS pith helmet was different from the one of any other common WH, LW or KM pith.

[Carlos Couto Jr]

Please gentlemen this pin is correct?



Thank you,
Carlos

[PMan]

Pith

Please gentlemen this pin is correct?



Thank you,
Carlos

NO

[Dennis S]

Sorry, not with screws.

[Carlos Couto Jr]

Thank you very much for information !

Carlos

[Paolo Marzetti]

Frankly after having read this interesting topic, I've not yet understood if my
SS shields fot tropical helmet are good or not. I've them since the 70's.
Someone says the back prongs should be in a way and some other in another way.Not very important for me, but just to know.PaoloM

both marked J.F.S., one 1942 and the other 1943

[Pieter Verbruggen]

Frankly after having read this interesting topic, I've not yet understood if my
SS shields fot tropical helmet are good or not. I've them since the 70's.
Someone says the back prongs should be in a way and some other in another way.Not very important for me, but just to know.PaoloM

both marked J.F.S., one 1942 and the other 1943

...they are original.
Pieter.

[Paolo Marzetti]

Thanks for your opinion Pieter!PaoloM

[AGFA40]

[AGFA40]

[AGFA40]

[AGFA40]

Hi all,

Just added 2 pith shields
They have flat prongs and are marked JFS 42&43
Dont know if these are original or copy,but maybe the images are good for references.

[Grant Lamont]

Fp 1942 Ss pith shields

Hi, just wondering if anyone has come across any Ss pith shields marked fp 1942?

[bigvoice63]

yes i see one sir