just waiting on the mail... SS Relic on the way.

[DougB]

I think I need to explain myself a bit more clearly.

I simply mean that a rusty, CHEAP relic has value... maybe not monetary value but historic value. There's just something "eery" about a partially decomposed helmet brought back to the above-ground. When I think of a nice, beautiful complete helmet I think of a helmet grabbed by a vet and shipped home. It is stuffed in a closet in a post-war house and comes out occasionally for the grandkids to run around with on their head. It may sit on a shelf, it may sit in a collection. A helmet may have a scuff on the visor, is that a scuff from the floor of a Sd.Kfz. 251 or is that a scuff from 1978 when 12 year old Andy was wearing it as a crash helmet on his bicycle? A helmet collected 65 years ago has 65 years worth of "history" in addition to it's 1-10 years of previous life.

I just think we're talking about two different types of collecting. Another example... what's more valuable? A mint unissued Totenkopf cufftitle or a ratty threadworn example that was on a man's arm for 3 years in Russia? Probably the unissued one, of course. But I'll take the ratty one.

How about this example, here are a couple US Civil War battle flags. One looks like it completed it's life folded in a knapsack possibly in Kansas and one was under fire on Malvern Hill.

In addition, I just wanted to apologize if I offended either of you. You both have incredible collections and they speak for themselves.

Attachment 172800Attachment 172799

No offense taken! Just making a counterpoint that a helmet in good condition has no history and that is incorrect.

A relic could have fallen off the back of a truck or the company cook left it in his dugout so the assumption that a relic is steeped in history is also incorrect.

We many times fill in our own blanks on pieces that are unnamed or not unit marked.

As for worn cloth examples there is a big difference between wear and relic condition. I have a killer Kreta cuff title I wouldnt trade for the world as it is worn condition. You couldnt give me a mint one. But I wouldnt want something that has been stuck in the ground for 65 years and is barely recognizable either,

in the end to each his own