New Zealand Home Guard Helmet

[Spitace41]

Hi all. Bit of a weird one today. The label attached to this stated that it was use by the NZ home guard. I have never seen anything like it. It is raw edge (no markings that I can see) and has odd rivets for the liner and chinstraps. The liner is reminiscent of a British MK2 in that it has arms with felt pads attached, but rather than a rubberized liner it is made of a sort of canvas, that looks to have been painted at some point. No idea about the insignia, I couldn't find another online. Any comments would be greatly appreciated. Cheers.

[tinlid]

Looks like an Hardleys made NZ helmet, or similar non military type.
Quite rare to find I think.

[Spitace41]

Thanks Tinlid. I can now see that it looks like a variant of Hardley helmet, although I am still on the hunt for markings. Looks like it was painted brown (possibly), then apple green (its sat next to a MK1 shell with its original apple green paint and the colour is almost identical) so i've just got to find out the significance of the NZ insignia.

[FALLSCHIRMJAGER]

That looks like one super rare helmet to me, I see nothing to suggest that this lid has been played around with. A good honest piece displaying a good honest unit marking. Well done, a find that is fast becoming a "needle in the haystack"! Leon.

[Spitace41]

Cheers for that Leon. I'm glad of the positive responses regarding the paintwork as I know that this is often the most contentious part of a helmet. I am still looking for a photo of such a helmet in wear but I think you summed it up neatly with "needle in the haystack." I did find a similar "military" Hardley helmet on the Auckland War Memorial Museum site, but apart from that the search continues.

http://www.aucklandmuseum.com/collec...met&ordinal=49

[Alkerrpone]

Hello. I am a helmet collector from New Zealand and new to this site . I have been collecting for a few years now but by no means an expert. What you have is a nz made civil defence helmet made by the nz railways workshop in Auckland. They were also made in Christchurch but with a different liner. It's not a Hartleys made helmet which is a different shape and liner. There is also another nz made helmet which is known as the nzp helmet . Hope this helps

[norweginblue]

Hi from UK, interesting thread, I have in my collection a New Zealand Hardley Helmet I bought many years go without knowing what it was, but I like Homefront ARP helmets and it had a W for Warden on it.. and a fabulous camouflage pattern.