M1 helmet real or fake?

**battleiguana** · 06-25-2013, 11:31 PM

The other day I was at a local antique shop and bought a crate full of military memorabilia. The man who sold it to me I believe was a war vet and sold it to me for $15. This was a red-flag for reproduction/fake but I bought it anyways. I looked throughout the crate and the materials inside seemed to be real(according to my research). I then picked up a helmet shell(no liner or chin strap) inside and researched it. I believe it is an M1 helmet shell but I am unsure. I looked online to find out how to tell if they are real or fake. On this forum I saw that you can tell by the seam, bales, and heat stamp. The helmet(I believe) has a rear seam and swivel bales. I looked in the helmet and saw an almost perfect stamp mark saying "8620". This was another red-flag knowing that the helmets had letters for the heat stamp and most heat stamps are warped. The paint on the helmet is in really good condition with some missing paint, rust and some cuts on it. If anyone can tell me if it is a reproduction or real please tell me because I have no knowledge on this stuff and I am going by what I have read on this forum.

**Panzersaurus** · 06-25-2013, 11:34 PM

Is the seam on the front or the back? If it's on the front it's WWII. As for the stamp I don't know.

**battleiguana** · 06-25-2013, 11:37 PM

I believe it is on the rear

**zwerge** · 06-25-2013, 11:58 PM

by battleiguana

I believe it is on the rear

You can`t tell the front from the back?

**battleiguana** · 06-26-2013, 12:38 AM

It is rear and yes I can tell the difference. I just answered it that way because I have virtually no knowledge of these helmets.

**Panzersaurus** · 06-26-2013, 12:58 AM

If it's on the back it means it was produced after WWII. This does not mean it's a fake though, just not wartime.

**battleiguana** · 06-26-2013, 01:02 AM

How about the stamp on it? It seems too clean though but I am not a professional.

**Panzersaurus** · 06-26-2013, 01:05 AM

I don't know about the stamp, but as far as I know nobody makes fake M1s. I'm sure another user can tell you about the stamp

**battleiguana** · 06-26-2013, 01:21 AM

ok, thanks for the help.

**patches3** · 06-26-2013, 03:14 AM

this helmet seems like a good vietnam war era helmet based on the light green paint. as far as the hheat stamp, ww2 produced helmets had heat stamps in the 1000's being latest and earlier ones had lower numbers. in terms of condition for the heat stamp, this could be a surplus helmet or the stamp could of been protected by the cover that most vietnam helmets had. this may not be right because there are some ww2 helmets that have clearly visible heatt stamps and have obviously bee used.