Oinions Need Opinions on this SS M42

[SSamir]

Robert is a good guy! Doug knows him as well.

[DougB]

Bobs a good guy. If I was choosing I'd take the M40.

[DougB]

Doug, I always thought that the infamous highend fake ET decal was only found on M40 shells, had no idea they were found on EF M42's, thats very interesting (and scary). Would you recommend ADM? If it fooled you, then no one's safe!

Samir

I've handled it on the M35 that was posted on WAF, the guy sent me the helmet to examine. When I had it in hand and examined it including ADM, Frank recognized the "fingerprint" from a decal he sent me pics of a few years ago of an ET on an EF M42. He had saved the photos and resent the pics and it was a perfect match, a very good inkjet fake. As I only had seen a couple pics and hadn't handled the fake in hand yet I didn't recognize it at the time. The thing with ADM is pics are not near as good as in hand, in hand I'll spend up to several hours with 1 helmet cataloging every nuance of the decal, with pics you see only what is sent, a tiny fraction of what I like to examine. I am sure the guys who made the fake didn't restrict themselves to one shell type. And bear in mind it's an experienced eye that needs to examine and find these top fakes, they can be that good, and are designed to deceive the casual collector.

So while this decal looks ok, any SS decal scrubbed needs a very close in hand in case a faker has tried to age a good replica with sandpaper in order to age the decal.

[ETF]

Gentlemen, thank you all for your very informative comments and feedback. I greatly appreciate it. I have been collecting WWII militaria for about 10 years and am a WWII history buff but have only recently started collecting Third Reich daggers and helmets. I have been reading and studying about them but as you all know the weath of information that is out there in these two categories alone is overwhelming. The information that you provide on this forum is extremely helpful to a newbie like me. I am enjoying the learning process. Thanks again for all the help.

I'm glad to hear the favorable opinions about Robert Iqbal as I agree he is a very good guy.

Ed

[SSamir]

So while this decal looks ok, any SS decal scrubbed needs a very close in hand in case a faker has tried to age a good replica with sandpaper in order to age the decal.

I couldn't agree more.

[helmet2id]

Samir,

Your eyes are very good as both the M42 and M40 are being sold from the same source. Whether or not he got them from the same source I do not know but can ask him. The gentleman offering these for sale is Robert Iqbal in Syracuse, NY. He has a website called "Collector to Collector Militaria". I attached the link below.
The helmets are not listed on the site but are coming out of his personal collection.
Collector to Collector Militaria

I have the chance to buy one of these but I want to make sure that they are authentic.
Ed

I have bought very nice helmets from Bob. As between the 2 that you are looking at, I like the M40. Jim G.