Italian KM pith on estand?

[Jerry B]

Not a fan of this, the eagle looks well worn and the exterior of the helmet has water damage but the sweatband apart from the usual age related splitting looks unused. Also there is no sign or mention of any issue stamps typical of KM piths used by the Germans.

RARE Kriegsmarine Italian tropical pith helmet - Militaria Collectibles buy - sell at War Relics

[MAP]

Jerry, noticed this as well. Plus odd that there is no oxidation / age to the metal/aluminum clips on the sweatband as far as I can tell. Just my thoughts....

Michael

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[Jerry B]

The pith is an original m1928 2nd pattern, made and used from mid/late war into the post war period and they were used by the Germans, but all those that appear to have been used by them has an acceptance stamp. Otherwise lots of these were stored unissued in the post war period and appear on the market quite often. Without the inkstamp and signs of use I would not buy this or think it is a corr4ect period configuration. Maybe there is some history with it, but as it stands I don't like it.

[all1knew]

Thought it was one of these foreign types but I may be wrong:

Kriegsmarine Tropenhelm (Pith Helmet), Opinions needed please

I will pull the ad. until this is vetted one way or the either.

William Kramer

[Jerry B]

The problem is William that you have it in the hand, does the sweatband have signs that show it has been worn or does it look to be straight out of the stores and has had a badge added to it to increase its value? Does it have a property of the german armed forces (in German) inkstamp inside it?

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi William, the eagle is 100% bad.

It is a British made fake from the 1970's. The swastika is out of alignment and is crooked. Draw an imaginary line from 12 o'clock to 6 o'clock and you will see what I mean. The back will have large crude lugs on the back.

Cheers, Ade.

[all1knew]

Hi William, the eagle is 100% bad.

It is a British made fake from the 1970's. The swastika is out of alignment and is crooked. Draw an imaginary line from 12 o'clock to 6 o'clock and you will see what I mean. The back will have large crude lugs on the back.

Cheers, Ade.

I just took it off the cap and you are correct. This is not the type with the wide fat pins though, they are more traditional looking but the eagle is a cast fake nonetheless and bends quite easy. I will give them credit though, as they used an authentic helmet to put it on, and the interior liner is a bit loose so the eagle's prongs could be bent and secured without penetrating through the liner. After the eagle was on the exterior of the cap was aged.

I would like to thank the members of this forum that brought the cap to my attention as I really did overlook this one (and I've seen this style of fake many times before)

not trying to pull a fast one on anybody and appreciate everyone here keeping a cool head and not throwing accusations, we all make mistakes. Such is life, and what's that they say....ya learn something new everyday?

talk soon.

William Kramer

[all1knew]

and for the sake of learning.....

what is this eagle trying to be, Cupal? There are shear marks on the reverse, and is the pitting from aluminum? I guess it isn't cast as there wasn't an original to be cast from but still fake nonetheless.

reference words: reproduction repo Navy tropical Afrika Korps pith helmet hat cap Kriegsmarine Naval sun visor

William Kramer

[Jerry B]

An obvious and horrible fake from the back, thanks for showing it William and for be so straight up when it was pointed out to you that there were some issues with the helmet and insignia combination.

[MAP]

Really interesting and informative thread here. Enjoyed it.

William - sorry it turned out this way.

Michael