Mk II flashed to the Polish Brigade

[Mark K]

I have been on the hunt for a Mk II flashed to the Polish Brigade in exile for some time and they do not come up for sale in the market place very often .
One has to be extremely diligent in there search as there are far more fakes being offered for sale than original period flashed examples .
For me there is only one other helmet that could grace my collection that could possibly sit higher on my display shelf.
I contacted a fellow collector a couple of weeks ago well knowing he had three such flashed Mk II's in his private collection and was pleasantly surprised when he offered to part with this example a true gentleman he is .
The helmet body was produced by EC&CO and has a nice textured finish showing definite wear and a nice used patina,The liner was produced by JCS&W Ltd and is 1941 dated.
I am quite pleased to say that stewardship of this particular Mk II has changed hands and I am confident that the eagle was WW II period applied but is not an obvious and or widely recognized pattern and feel it stands a very good chance of being an early variation that was not widely adopted and was possibly applied for a very short period of time while the Polish Army in exile was being reconstituted in Scotland in early 1940.
This of course at this point is only speculation and a theory as there is no period evidence in the form of images to support this but it does cause one to pause and ponder the possibilities as there are other one off period variations to the Polish eagle known to have been applied to helmets.

Regards Mark

[ruddersrangers44]

Now thats a great looking Helmet Mark,if every Helmet I purchased had that exact look and patina I would be one happy chappy,well done on your latest purchase.............

[Jerry B]

A cracking pick up Mark, a top drawer item in any collection. Where is the drool emoticon when you need it.

PS love the dead spiders

[Mark K]

Thanks Gents very pleased to be the new caretaker of this Mk II IMO it will display rather nicely and deserves a little wood and glass case all it's own.

Regards Mark

[FALLSCHIRMJAGER]

A top top helmet Mark, well done on adding this cracker to your collection. Leon.

[Shadwellarmy]

Well done Mark, excellent addition. Cant come up with an MKII I would want more than this one.

[Mark K]

Many thanks Leon and Mads the helmet arrived in the post yesterday and it is an amazing helmet in hand and I know we have all said it before but the images do not do this Mk II justice and it will be displayed in a place of prominence in my collection.

Regards Mark

[tinlid]

All flashed helmets are hard to find, but some, like this one are even harder.
Well done, can't see this one leaving your side for awhile.

[FALLSCHIRMJAGER]

Hi Mark, I have no idea if this is a good Polish flashed helmet or not but I thought it may be a useful reference. Leon.

[A.J. Zawadzki]

Leon, these types of hand painted eagles are often associated with the Polish 2nd Corps who fought in the Mediterranean theater of the war. As always, it's difficult to make a judgment call as to authenticity from digital photos alone, but this helmet does look promising.

Regards,
Tony