post up your favorite helmet acquisition for 2015

[James C]

I think i did a similar thread about this time last year so ill ask again for 2015 ,just be nice to see what you my fellow headgear collector friends have picked up this year ,my favorite purchase this year has to be this late 1970's cold war era mig fighter pilots helmet ,wishing you all a merry christmas and happy hunting in 2016

[James C]

[asterperious]

Well - here is my favourite: A WW I Mk I helmet with a REAL sandbag field made cover to Pte. Benjamin Baldrey 1 Bn The Rifle Brigade.

[Martin C]

I am leaning towards this one as being my favorite for the year, a Bavarian Freicorps.

Take care,

Mart

[MAP]

Wish I could post something James. Just don't have any composite helmets. Was a temporary caretaker for one briefly .... but shipped it off to Jake

[reneblacky]

Can only whack this helmet up for the year, I've post it elsewhere here too 60's salt shaker West German and bugger it I'll whack in my all time fav

[reneblacky]

Bad time to post I'm still on the plonk!!! plus you can keep that Riddell thing

[asterperious]

My only other helmet this year was this rarity - original blue/green War Office Pattern manganese steel Brodie of the initial run after the first 4400 magnetic types with the thin wire bales, 2 piece chinstrap etc. No indication of the steel supplier stamped anywhere, sadly missing it's 6 fingered oil clothliner...

[Greg Pickersgill]

Well, James, I couldn't claim to have a 'favourite' composite acquisition for 2015; I did buy several (hmm, maybe make that 'many' really...) and while they are all interesting to me they are mostly Mk6s and Para Lightweights and two or three commercial police/security products. All interesting, definately, and with their charms, but Stars of the Collection?... perhaps not.

But given that metal objects have been inserted into this thread already, I will offer up two steel (well, one steel one aluminium, actually) helmets that truly delight me.

This first is a facet of my love for the French Mle45 Jeanne d'Arc. Its the version produced in the 1950s for the Saarbataillon, the police units based in the Saar during the French occupation (which lasted until 1956). The one I illustrate here is a later version, still in use after the return of the area to West Germany. It lacks the frontal badge that it would have had during the French period. It's made of aluminium, and while obviously the same family as the mle45 it has a distinctly different shape, being more rounded and with a less defined nape section. The liner is the same-but different, using the same fiting system but leather lobed rather than the Riddell loops of the original mle 45. The liner fixing tabe are rivetted on rather then spot-welded as was the case with the teel Jd'A (see the pic of the top). There was, usually, no crest fitted. This was a real find for me, and I ended upo with three of them from the same seller the other two being repainted white as was customary for the BRD police.






The next one is a true delight - a genuine early model (pre-1930!) Swiss M18. Now this character has had a hard life over its maybe 80-odd years, its not entirely obvious that it still has much of its original green on the exterior, and the leather pads and straps are in poor condition, but its the real thing, no question. Its not just the smooth green finish that makes this what it is, its the two-piece leather chinstrap that demonstrates it is an unmodified pre-1930 M18. To be honest I am not sure - because part of the chinstrap is missing - wheteher this is truly the first or second pattern strap (the common one known as the 'carbine hook strap' is the thrid version) but bloody hell, it's a two piece leather strap! That'll do for the moment, no question. I have seen only one of these on sale before, several years back, and I was outbid on that. This one I got for next to nothing really, because, well, you know, no-one is interested in Swiss helmets - except me and the guy who outbid me way back when.







Actually, and it pains me to say this, I almost did have a Star Composite, because I found a genuine really early development model of the British Para Lightweight on US Ebay on Christmas Day morning. It had a hefty but realistic price of $200 BuyItNow or offers accepted. Idiotically, because of the costs of postage and built-in Customs payment (a not entirely desirable new innovation given the lottery that Customs charges is) which would have brought it up to nearly £200 overall, I decided to make a offer of $150 and went out for a walk. On my return I found some other bastard had bought it. Poo. I should have just bitten the bullet and paid the BIN price, and gone without something elsewhere later. I'll probably *never* see another one for sale. Sadness, misery, made worse by the fact that it was all my own fault. Catherine told me to not be an idiot and lose it, but Oh No, I had to try saving a few pounds. Inappropriate economy, indeed. Nice to start the new year with a regret, isn't it.

[Karl S.]

My only helmet of 2015. As I've cut back on my collecting I only acquire things that I would consider a bargain. Nothing special just a M35 Police. I particularly like the national shield.

Oops, I just noticed this is the wrong category for this helmet. Moderator, please delete.