Mark K Posted May 13, 2016 Share Posted May 13, 2016 Morning Gents I was quite happy to be able to add this Mk I to my collection it has a lovely patina and well used look about with much of the sand textured finish still visible on the exterior of the shell .The helmet body was manufactured by ( HS ) Hadfields Ltd of Sheffield England and IMO was manufactured post October 31 1916 as the shell has been finished in a sand textured overcoat the info I have suggests these can be found painted in either a pail blue grey,green,Khaki brown and or tan.The liner bares the War Office Pattern red stamp and the patent number 11803/16 which would put the liner construction no earlier than October 31 1916 I do know there was a second round of modifications to the liner in early 1917 with the addition of a rubber ring set in the dome pad and held in place by the leather strap which makes this a post 1917 example.Regards Mark 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davejb Posted May 13, 2016 Share Posted May 13, 2016 Nice condition when you think of the age, I was wondering, do you have any original rimless Mk 1s?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark K Posted May 13, 2016 Author Share Posted May 13, 2016 No Dave still on my Holy Grail List they are far and few between but one day I will manage to snag an example as I am always on the hunt... Regards Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davejb Posted May 13, 2016 Share Posted May 13, 2016 The reason I asked was many years ago, My dad got one off an old bomb site that were still around in the late 60s, early 70s. I had it for years but sold it before I got married. Unfortunately it did,nt have a liner, but had a leather Chinstrap still attached, but I never knew if that was the norm for these. The edge was pretty sharp so I could see why they were later changed, but there were no marks around the edge to say it had a rim at any time. There was a divisional sign of some description but you could,nt read it as the exterior was rusted. I,m wondering now if I did the right thing in selling it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark K Posted May 13, 2016 Author Share Posted May 13, 2016 Jeez @Davejb I wish you had a couple of pictures of it but then again you might not want to know...If it was a good rimless... Regards Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davejb Posted May 13, 2016 Share Posted May 13, 2016 Thats true, but believe it or not they were not that hard to find back then. I remember seeing one in a militaria shop that had a chain mail face piece hanging on the front, that was going for about £30, but that was a lot of money back then, especially as you could get a German helmet for under a tenner in some old junk shops around London Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark K Posted May 17, 2016 Author Share Posted May 17, 2016 Dave and one of those helms now will fetch considerably more on the market than some of the nicer German Camo's I have seen the cruise brodie are very hard to find and are extremely expensive ... Regards Mark 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Fred Karno's Army Posted May 17, 2016 Share Posted May 17, 2016 I love the Brodie's but that's because I'm all ww1 lol ,a nice one came up on eBay a few weeks ago it had a RAMC badge painted front centre,and the guys details inside,but then the auction kept ending and restarting at varying start prices,and then it started doing the rounds on various Facebook pages,in the end I just got fed up chasing it . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norrie Posted May 17, 2016 Share Posted May 17, 2016 Newbie question.....Why were they painted with the "textured" finish, IMHO, was it to stop "Glare" ??? Whatever the reason, it must have worked as they painted them like that through two world wars...:) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norrie Posted May 17, 2016 Share Posted May 17, 2016 On 5/13/2016 at 14:37, Davejb said: Thats true, but believe it or not they were not that hard to find back then. I remember seeing one in a militaria shop that had a chain mail face piece hanging on the front, that was going for about £30, but that was a lot of money back then, especially as you could get a German helmet for under a tenner in some old junk shops around London @Davejb, was talking to a mate the other day, he's a turner to trade, and worked for years at a local foundry, Cruikshanks in Denny, he was telling me, that in the early 70's, every second day for years, two articulated lorries showed up, loaded with Brodie helmets for the furnace....he did a count and reckoned well over 1/4 million went through the smelter in the foundry....seemingly, they also held a massive stock of them in the yard, he says the pile was almost 30 feet high, and 40-50yds long.......that was only one "smallish" foundry, so, imagine what was being melted down.... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAK D Posted May 17, 2016 Share Posted May 17, 2016 Hi @Norrie, Spot on mate +1 England and Germany both used a shiny/ satin finish in the 1930's on combat helmets, but by 1940 both sides had changed back to a non reflective factory finish paint. D 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norrie Posted May 18, 2016 Share Posted May 18, 2016 17 hours ago, DAK D said: Hi @Norrie, Spot on mate +1 England and Germany both used a shiny/ satin finish in the 1930's on combat helmets, but by 1940 both sides had changed back to a non reflective factory finish paint. D See @Mark K, I'm learning....:) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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