Waffen helmet cover , opinions please

[camo master]

Camo Master:

I have a SS helmet cover with the same detail as your zelt. Very faded flower print behind the camo pattern. I tried to take some photos, but it is very difficult to see (look in the middle of 2nd photo for flower).

Mike

Hi Mike,
Hey this is great - there are some more examples out there.

It is difficult see the flower design that you mean but I know exactly what you're talking about. Try taking a pic of the cover on a sunny day with the cover in the shade. I find the flash tends to bounce off the white parts of the fabric with the print washed off and whitens everything else out.

I would really like to see the shape of your flowers on yours to see if they are the same as mine. I believe the designs on Jacques cover differ from the ones on my zelt.

My guess is that, and believe me only a guess, that they took fabric that had previously been printed because it was needed for zelt production and over printed it.

Which leads to the question - what would they use floral printed fabric that was the same weight and durability as zelt fabric? I was thinking curtains or maybe heavy table cloth.

Shortly after I received my zelt with the floral pattern I happened to see a WWII German album for sale on ebay and recognized the floral print immediately as almost identicle to the one on my zelt. Then checking a number of albums I have found some covered with a very durable canvas weave cloth with similar weight and feel as zelt fabric. It seemed to me to be such a strange coincidence, if it would have happened the other way around, I wouldnt have given the album a second look.

Have purchased the album off ebay, it has yet to arrive to check what kind of fabric it is, so I'll post a scan of it here from the ebay sale for reference. (I hope one can do that on this forum). It isnt the exact same print as on the zelt but is very very close with the star or diamond shape, the flowers and greenery around the flowers.

I would really like to know other collectors thoughts on this - Any comments here really welcome especially if others have floral patterns on their camo items.

Thanks
Mark

[camo master]

here's the camo print again so its easier to compare with the album. I've darkened down the flash slightly to try and bring out the white flowers. I believe the print is the reverse of the album with the dark lines on the album were printed white or a light color on a dark ground...

.........and Maxmillian, great eye..... it is an offcut #5/6 Planetree.

[camo master]

another pic of the floral pattern

[camo master]

hmmmmmmmm....... pic didnt up load . here it is

Thanks
Mark

[Massimo F.]

a couch that went to war? sure it's unusual, how the floral pattern comes into the fabric, is it like it's impressed almost embossed or printed in a faded color?
thanks for showing

[camo master]

Hello Krieg 777,

It is not pressed or embossed/debossed into the fabric. The fabric is flat to the touch like all zelt fabric.

To me it looks like the purple ground color was printed over the the already printed floral fabric.

The ground color of the floral print was dark leaving the light outlines of the flowers. When the purple was over printed, it made the already dark ground darker leaving the white outlines lighter so they now show up in the ground. Does this make sense?

This just an educated guess - there could be some other way this pattern showed up on this fabric but Im fairly certain it was preprinted before the camo guys got it. The print is consistent on one side throughout the entire zelt.

Thanks for your comment and welcome any more. would love to see some other examples come out of your collections. One has to look very closely - at first it just looks like a washing flaw or something like this.

Mark