home front helmets
I am interesting in getting an example of a British home front helmet of the Battle of Britain period. Browsing some I see stencils being offered. It doesn't seem like they fetch a high price. Why fake them? I don't have a preference Warden, Ambulance or any fire service. Any pointers or red flags to look for? I'm not usually a helmet collector so assume I don't know what I'm looking at.
WRF member 'Composite' has written a book on this very subject:
"Helmets of the Home Front" by Adrian & George Blake.
I'd start by either ordering this book, looking through the threads or both.
If you post any helmets up on the forum, he and others will gladly help.
Nick
Welcome to the best helmet grouping in the world!! :-)
There's LOADS of HF lids on the likes of Ebay....with various markings and various qualities....and, sadly, various ages! Put simply, and not wishing to patronise you, the more you see on a helmet the more senior it probably is/was....AND the greater the probability of it being faked. After some idiot wrote a book on the subject (sorry!) the prices seem to have gone through the roof for even the most basic ones but single-lettered examples (W, A, SFP [OK, three lettered too]) can still be reasonable (except those being sold by the less scrupulous...there's an interesting thread here....search for "Ebay Money Maker"). As for which ones to go for.....SFP and W are probably the most numerous closely followed by NFS-badged ones....but NFS prices climb as soon as rank bands are added.
As stated in that book, it's all about the age of the paint....the helmet will almost always be Brit WW2 (tho CHECK it isn't post-war Belgian....depression in crown for liner screw and brown liner....and metric sizing etc etc).
I'm still finding a new (to me) genuine marking EVERY WEEK! (and that's not counting the ones that still smell of paint!).
Good luck!
Oh, and Nick, thanks for the plug.....'less than half the stock left now.....'just sayin' :-) ('can't resist an advertising possibility)
Oh...and have a look at this thread too....."mkII (&mkI or earlier) Helmets Steel, British & Commonwealth, show yours"
As you are in the US you will be limited in what is available unless you pay international shipping. They come up on ebay occasionally from US sellers. Like a lot of this hobby key is identifying difference between what is being advertised to what the actual item is.
These three are listed at the moment all look good to me and are in the US
Vintage WWII 1939 British Brodie Refurbished Wardens Helmet w/ Chin Strap Liner | eBay
Although it says ‘refurbished’ think it’s a clean original example – others can chime to confirm or question that- this for me is the iconic Home Front helmet if you want a single example.
British Brodie Helmet FAP Briggs Motor Bodies BMB1 1939 w/Net and Liner | eBay
This is a First Aid Party, lettering could be better and not sure what the net is doing on it.
British Brodie Helmet FIRE Briggs Motor Bodies BMB I 1939 w/ Liner | eBay
Nice example but probably a factory fire helmet
If these aren’t what you want I would add them to your watch list and then you will get an idea of what they sell for. There are a lot of Canadian Home Front helmets around, if in doubt post it here for confirmation.
Thank you each for your posts. I would love to get the book but since I really just want an example I would end up spending more on the book than on the helmet. I appreciate the links to the three helmets. I will likely go for the warden helmet.
..what did you get in the end?
Here are some more for sale on this side of the pond
The Collector's Guild
A bit pricey but nice to look at.
.....we’d love to see what won the race....did you get one in the end?
address and how much in US DOLLORS shipped to the US?
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