Et ss

[sweguy]

ET helmet up for review. I know there are lousy pics, but since i'm probably gonna see it in hand in a couple of days, touch and feel it, it would be nice to hear some opinions from these pics. The decal looks ET right? Batch number looks to be 900 which matches another ET SD SS with that same number. It's named and with feldpostnummer 46672A which indicates Gerbigs Division nord aka "Reinhard Heydrich Regiment".

According to the seller the helmet was picked up by his grandfather in the woods of Finland. Since the unit saw action up in those areas it seems legit.

Have a look anyway and tell me what you think.

All the best/ Al

[DougB]

Looks to be a heavily cleaned shell, with a lot of damage to the decal as a result. Without a clear, in focus, head on, no glare photo of the decal it is impossible to say with any certainty as the decal is in such poor condition - but I see no immediate red flags.

Post it when you get it in hand please?

[SSamir]

I agree. Need some close-ups of both, decal and sig. Macro shots preferred. As Doug said, straight on shots of the decal is a must. Thanks for sharing.

Regards
Samir

[FALLSCHIRMJAGER]

Hi ,as has already been said ,this one stands a chance of being an original SS helmet ,but as Doug says it has been heavily damaged if it is a good one so don't pay big money. If the naming is legit that is a very nice added touch though which makes it more desirable. Leon.

[lebus12]

Postamt | Verwendung als: Aufgabestempel, Tagesstempel 1.3.1942-7.9.1942 Stab, Stabs- und 13.-16. Kompanie Gebirgsjäger-Bataillon IV SS-Gebirgs-Division Nord. 8.9.1942-11.3.1943 Stab II und 6.-10. Kompanie SS-Gebirgsjäger-Regiment 6 Reinhard Heydrich SS-Gebirgs-Division Nord. 12.3.1943-7.9.1943 Stab II und 6.-10. Kompanie SS-Gebirgsjäger-Regiment 6 Reinhard Heydrich Nord; 22.10.1943 Stab II und Einheit Gebirgsjäger-Regiment 11 6. SS-Division;

46672

[KradSpam]

Has a chance to be good as said. Based on those pics I'd take a punt for the value of the shell. Even better if you are able to see it in person and take clearer photos.

[sweguy]

Thanks for the inputs guys. Just to clarify, with heavily cleaned you mean someone has wiped off dust etc right? Not meant to talk about money here but where would you put the monetary value if the decal and number is the real deal? If the feldpostnummer is correct and period from a well known unit it would be much more desireable as you say.

Thanks for watching/ Al

[DougB]

Thanks for the inputs guys. Just to clarify, with heavily cleaned you mean someone has wiped off dust etc right? Not meant to talk about money here but where would you put the monetary value if the decal and number is the real deal? If the feldpostnummer is correct and period from a well known unit it would be much more desireable as you say.

Thanks for watching/ Al

Hi Al

By "heavily cleaned" I mean the helmet has been cleaned of something off the exterior surface, but would not be dust. The reason I suspect this is the condition of the decal, which gets this appearance by something being rubbed off. It could be from the period where a soldier removed winter camo, or it could have been overpainted postwar which was common and the paint removed or something else, but something has for sure "scrubbed" this decal.

That really in of itself does not make this a bad piece, it simply lowers the value, if the decal is a real one which from these photos I cannot determine but like I said I personally like what I see.

Regarding value on a helmet such as this I find there is almost no point discussing value in a public forum as values will swing wildly from one person to the next as it is a shell and the decal condition is poor. That said, the number of SS personalizations with FP numbers on them is very very few and that, IMO, raises the value significantly.

So, if real, it is missing a liner, which significantly hurts the value, the decal is heavily scrubbed or cleaned, which significantly hurts the value, and the personalization has a clear FP number which raises the value. If this helmet were dead mint, with provenance, and original mint liner, you could probably pull 10K US from it. If this helmet were quite rusted it might be worth $500 US. So there is your value range for a personalized, feldpost numbered SS M40 ET SD, pick a spot that you are comfortable with I suppose.

But first make sure it is real.

Cheers
Doug

[sweguy]

Great description Doug, thanks! I will post some pics when I take a look at it in hand.

Cheers

[sweguy]

So, I just met the guy and took some photos of the helmet (hope they are good enough cause now I realize some were blurry). When seeing it in person it feels completely 100% right and if it was cleaned I think it was during the war. This seems completely untouched to me. I know camera-flash is a no-no but I inserted one pic just in case.

Tell me what you think
Cheers Al