Job lot of helmets?

[Lenny]

A friend has been offered these, I've been out of helmets for years but wondered if anyone had thoughts on them. There's a few that I don't like, but thoughts?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Davejb]

I would say theres a few there that have been messed with, cammos in particular, also theres a number there with 9 finger liners ,how many helmets do you normally see in one lot with liners like that. Ak helmets are the most recreated types but they seem to forget that it was normal just to paint right over the decal, and then later if you wanted to , dig it out.Also unnatural scrapes on the helmets.  AK painted helmets age differently over the years and have a "pinkish hue" to them, due to prolonged exposure to harsh sunlight. I think these need to be inhand examined, rather than photos, do you have lot numbers, maker marks etc, you could try the helmet lot number forum, or someone here might have the list, at least that will tell you what era and the original purpose of the helmet was, ie Luft, WH, Police.

[Lenny]

I for one am suspicious about the cammos, especially the chicken wire shadowed one...

[Davejb]

Yeah, that is an odd one, its bordering on a completely faked paint job, if the wire had been removed long ago the shadow would more or less blended in by now, but the shadow is too uniform. I quite like the police lid, but close ups of the decals would help, cant make out if its a first or second unbordered police decal, I,m leaning towards second, theres one there,  AK, all the scrapes are going one way, and its not brush marks, that looks hand made to me, but its the liners that do worry me, the very dark liner looks ok but thats the police lid, the lufty looks ok as well but decal close ups are needed, theres one there that has the tri colour bottom missing, I,m always wary when I see this. A lot of people talk about round bottom decals and thats true but the Good apple book has the national colours decal as a round bottom design, and its seen on many of his WH and Luft helmets and these are well known collections from reknown collectors, what other doubts do you have

[Lenny]

M40 DD's are very rare. They DO exist, but rare...

[Davejb]

I reserve judgement on DDs for M40s until the decals have been thoroughly examined, really even close up photos are not wholly evident of authenticity, it does help if you can search the lot number lists, at least that way it gives you an idea as to the allocation of decals on helmets

[Davejb]

I have a Quist M40 shell that I found in the boiler room at Detmold Barracks , Germany, The liner was rotted away. It has a hand painted HJ lozenge on the left, the area was a Panzer Barracks in war time but was protected by AA units, so I thought it was possible that a young HJ gunner would have done it himself. Its completely original but the lot number list says ND, so there always an exception to the rule. Its also a blackie but I think its just a black/grey lid as some AA units had them

 

[Bil4338]

Purely going by these photos I wouldn't touch any of these with a proverbial barge pole, for the reasons Davejb's stated.all the decals look fake, as do most of the paint jobs, camo's especially.many of the liners look aged and I'm also concerned that most have 9 finger liners...what sizes are their shells? Not much to go on right enough, but need to have in hand before parting with any cash.just don't look good from here...

[DAK D]

A hands on for all of them in my opinion.

DAK helmets were painted in many different shades of tan and even brown in Tunisia, but going by those photos I would pass.

D

[Davejb]

Provided that all those helmet shells are real, its a terrible shame that someone has seen fit to fake the paint and possibly most of the decals and liners just to make a quick profit.

[Guest Fred Karno's Army]

When you have talented guys that can make these PLASTIC helmets look like this it puts a slight slant on things .

[Davejb]

Yeah ,those are dangerous, but only in photos, TV and film props I would imagine

[Bil4338]

The rivet/vent placement's awry on the first one though, wouldn't fool any normal collector, but the average film buff would be none the wiser...

[Davejb]

Hi Lenny, well your friend has just put two of these up for opinions on FB, the Police and Lufty lids, apparently the Police ;lid is up for $1000, the Lufty no price yet, and all the so called "experts" are happy with them, yet no-one has bothered to comment that the decals are too far away to be verified and the Lufty has 9 fingers, but they do say the Police lid is worth $5-600,I,m waiting to see how they view the others, if he puts them up, one did say that the police liner could be post war Norwegian, and he could be right seeing its been oiled or treated, to mask the red dye, but theres something not right ,he,s mixed up the lufty liner with the cammo stained one, the one that all of doubt is ok. I dont blame anyone asking for second opinions, but the ones he,s now getting do not make sense at all. If he,s not careful he,ll get stung and badly

[DAK D]

Without better photos I would not trust any of these helmets.

D

[Guest Fred Karno's Army]

On 4 April 2016 at 13:46, Davejb said:

Yeah ,those are dangerous, but only in photos, TV and film props I would imagine

• I just meant the quality of work on an eBay plastic £20 helmet,if let loose on a real one thats worth £££££. Well we all no the answer to that lol .And those that were done 20+ years ago .

[Davejb]

Yeah I see your point, but I ,ve always gone by if it looks to good to be true, then it dont walk like a duck, If those came up on the open market and they were original shells, they would be among some of the most perfect examples seen to date, that alone would cast doubt until proven otherwise