Brit lids - some respect please

[Composite]

I have a feeling we may have covered this before but....

....why is it felt necessary and acceptable to scrape, chisel, Nitromors, heat-gun or pick paint off a helmet to find the date?

Does anyone scratch a TR shield off to see what's underneath? Do they scrape away looking for the "800"? Do they look for a wire brush before looking for the heat stamp?

....and when the butchery is complete and irreversible.........what-do-ya-know......it's wartime dated!!!!!!!

I can't imagine this will save one single helmet from the industrial hair-dryers but..........

[reneblacky]

Well if it's done ya have added history no?

[CBH]

I wish I had collected more British and Canadian helmets when I first started collecting many years ago, they where cheap and plentiful.
Also I wish I had treated the helmets i did have with more respect when I was a kid, now I won't even dissemble the new ones I get.
Live and learn.

[Composite]

The disassembly point is interesting.......I didn’t originally, but then I learned that it happened at the time and then felt I couldn’t 100% “trust” anything I saw. I initially aspired to understand and document the relationship between liner manufacturers and shell makers assuming that some had supply contracts with others so it would have been possible to spot switched liners.....but decided I’d leave that one for MCs book.

[CBH]

The last two or three helmets I've purchased, I only lightly cleaned. Before I'd probably dissemble them an detail clean them.
Now I want to keep them as found, unless in relic condition.
I understand how you feel about British Helmets, they don't get the respect German ones do, but it is mostly a TR forum.
Some still appreciate them, like myself.

[Jerry B]

I worry whether to clean them, especially inside where they are sometimes rusting, or just leave them rot away.