Fake or real

[blaksaussa]

hello to the SS expert !!

what are your feelings on this one ?

[Sir Payne]

SSamir was right, these things are popping up everywhere. That makes me very suspicious. If you want help you'll need a closeup shot of what is left from the decal.

Regards,
Corey

[blaksaussa]

you are right !! and this is why i prefer to check first..i send an email to the vendor , i'm waiting for the close -up

[SSamir]

IMO if you can't positively ID the decal as an authentic SS then leave it alone. You don't want to spend all day looking at it and wondering if you have the real thing or not. I have seen a couple of SS relics come up for review here and positively identified as real SS relics by their decals. As far as the relic that you just posted, most of the decal appears to be gone and IMO will be hard to ID. Good luck

Samir

[blaksaussa]

I'm 100 % agree with you Samir !!, but nowadays it is so hard to get a hand on a reasonnable price, the only way is with relics, and i love relics, i sold all my ''too clean'' pieces in my collection and i kept and want only some ''been there'' Militaria.. so i kept an eye on every SS relic helmet for sale
it might be difficult to identifed but i jost hope there is nothing that will cal for a no go !!! i might try to get it for '' cheap'' , 14 days return so i maybe try a chance on this one and we'll see..

Cheers

[DougB]

No way to tell from these pics.

[Danmark]

Maybe these "things are popping up everywhere" because of advanced exposure diggers have on the internet auction sites and the vast number of decalled lids still surviving in the areas of Latvia and Estonia where SS divisions fought?

We should blame the robustness of the anti-rusting vanadium pulver in the elite decals for their preservation - which makes an otherwise boring rusty piece of metal desirable ( = $$ ) to diggers ....and therefore desirable to buyers!

Dan

[WOODSNAKE]

Maybe these "things are popping up everywhere" because of advanced exposure diggers have on the internet auction sites and the vast number of decalled lids still surviving in the areas of Latvia and Estonia where SS divisions fought?

We should blame the robustness of the anti-rusting vanadium pulver in the elite decals for their preservation - which makes an otherwise boring rusty piece of metal desirable ( = $$ ) to diggers ....and therefore desirable to buyers!

Dan

Hi Guys, that was my helmet that i bought from a dealer in Latvia some time ago, it has been posted on here before in regards to the damage to the top of the shell which i or thought had been caused by a pick axe as i had seen photos of this practice being carried out on WW1 lids after the war had ended, as the decal was not discussed in detail( as to the lack there of) it was however the opinion that my thinking might have been right. Those that know me on here and know that i restore the odd helmet and obviously buy and sell will also know that i would never intentionally try to deceive anyone. This helmet was sold at auction and was left for the bidders to make up there own mind. It originally sold for $ 92.00 way short of what it owed me but you win some and you lose some, however the buyer didn't pay and i re auctioned it and received a lot more interest and sold it on. I advertised it as an Elite decal, which i believe to be true, i know as Doug would say "you need to have it in hand" i did..and although being an amateur and far from an authority i believe the helmet to be what it is.

Cheers Phill.

[Paul D]

Maybe these "things are popping up everywhere" because of advanced exposure diggers have on the internet auction sites and the vast number of decalled lids still surviving in the areas of Latvia and Estonia where SS divisions fought?

We should blame the robustness of the anti-rusting vanadium pulver in the elite decals for their preservation - which makes an otherwise boring rusty piece of metal desirable ( = $$ ) to diggers ....and therefore desirable to buyers!

Dan

Quite right Dan the reason there are many of them about is because there are many of them out there to be dug up , hundreds of thousands probably and diggers are finding them all the time , finding relic SS helmets isn't an uncommon event !! There have for the last few years always been many for sale so there is nothing suspicious about this at all , whilst continuning to use common sense and experience to evaluate a helmet , lets not create paranoia where there isn't any !!

With many of the helmets the decals are too far gone thorugh 70 years underground to be able to make any real guess as to the type of SS decal etc but that shouldn't be a reason to write off a helmet but having handled many original SS relics the differences in the decals can be extremely varied even in helmets found in roughly the same area, as with anything else all the other factors of making a purchase come into play , source , location,condition of the helmet and the area around the decal etc etc.

In this case as with many helmets including relics better photos of the decal are needed to make an assessment !!

[WOODSNAKE]

you are right !! and this is why i prefer to check first..i send an email to the vendor , i'm waiting for the close -up

No offence but i never recieved an email from you requesting any alternative pictures.
Regards Phill.