WW2 Brit / German Tropical Pith Helmet

[AlecH]

Hi Everyone,
A collector brought this British Tropical Pith Helmet along to our monthly meeting last Saturday night. It started life in the British Army seems to have been taken as war bounty on Crete - written on it is Kreta 20.5.41 (the start date of German Crete invasion)according to my collector friend at that time the Wehrmacht didn't have any tropical pith helmets and pressed captured British ones into service, he has pictures of German soldiers wearing these Brit. Pith helmets. On the chinstrap is the name of the original owner Payne Pt.(doesn't show up so clear on picture, but its readable) on the inside leather band is written, the later owners name Hptm. Meixner Fallschirm - Sturm - Btl. on one side of the helmet is painted the Wehrmacht decal on the other side ( if you look closely) is a faintly painted emblem of a comet - a four pointed star with a tail, the emblem of Fallschirm - Btl. My friend would be interested to know if there is much of a demand for these tropical pith helmets with such a history and what price range they fall in. Any information welcome.
Best Wishes

[Jerry B]

Without a good history for this pith, it would be hard to tell when the artwork and names were added, which would affect its value. Without the artwork its worth £50-100, hard to say what the artwork adds, but without the history to prove it was period done, it probably reduces its value. Does it look as if it was done 70 years ago or more recently? The named german officer is maybe one easily found from a search of the archives and if it had been an unknown em/nco it might be more believable. Only a hands on might decide if this was period done.

The Germans had tropenhelms before the may 1941 date of the Crete invasion, but probably never took any to Crete at the start and I have seen pics of them using captured british piths after the fighting had finished.

Jerry

[davejb]

Have a look under the sweatband, there may be a white paper tag telling the makers and date, as for the artwork, i couldnt say but the star emblem looks a little extreme re the size, as for the tri-colour only a hands on might tell , i have one that has the metal insignia of Heer, and of course the German troops seemed to prefer these as opposed to there own judging by the amount that are seen in period photos, i have been told that they prefered the colonial look to our pith helmets