SD M35 helmet from - SS rgt. General Seyffardt (23-th SS div. Nederland)
This helmet was found several years ago near Auvere (Narwa front) where SS rgt. General Seyffardt was destoryed. Or at least it is the story and never buy the story but the item.
It is a rusty M35 SD SS helmet, uncleaned. Metal is very solid, no rust holes etc. But there are a lot of rust beneath the paint so I'm not sure it is good to clean it at all? What do You think?
Cant say I see any red flags.
Leave it as it is.
I would be tempted to give it an oxalic bath, but that's just me, I have to fiddle with things!
I agree with Samir, that rust is pretty heavy which means its very likely deep and any invasive cleaning will go far beyond the decal and reduce the thickness of the metal, and likely to leave holes ,you might try a test piece on the inside rear rim, gently tap the rust with a small hammer,see how much rust comes away and what is left but you need to go easy
Well, metal is very strong, so there will be no holes after oxalic accid and there is plenty of original paint still there. But I'm worried about the decal after oxalic accid bath...
Leave it as it is in this nice original state , if this is from General Seyffart it will have been found in the area of Repniku , i have one from there also , at the time of tthe retreat GS was part of the 4 SS Freiwilligen Brigade Nederland the forerunner to the 23 Division.
The gates of hell were opened and we accepted the invitation to enter" 26/880 Lance Sgt, Edward Dyke. 26th Bn Northumberland Fusiliers , ( 3rd Tyneside Irish )
1st July 1916
Thought shall be the harder , heart the keener,
Courage the greater as our strength faileth.
Here lies our leader ,in the dust of his greatness.
Who leaves him now , be damned forever.
We who are old now shall not leave this Battle,
But lie at his feet , in the dust with our leader
House Carles at the Battle of Hastings
Oxalic will make the decal soft so make sure you don't touch it until the helmet dries again.
I have read someone who claimed that their decal lifted off the helmet in the acid so I would recommend sitting there for as many hours as the helmet is in the acid and occasionally move the helmet around so the water washes against the decal and if any lifting of the decal is seen then the acid treatment stops. Looking at your decal it looks almost totally embedded in the rust so I would doubt it going anywhere even in the acid.
Hi, seems to be a genuine piece from what I can see. Personally I would not clean it as long as it is stable. It looks ok as it is , it may be worth comparing your one with Pauls as the type of ground they would have been in(if they are from the same area) would most likely be very similar and give similar traits of rusting. Leon.
Do you know who the digger is ?
The gates of hell were opened and we accepted the invitation to enter" 26/880 Lance Sgt, Edward Dyke. 26th Bn Northumberland Fusiliers , ( 3rd Tyneside Irish )
1st July 1916
Thought shall be the harder , heart the keener,
Courage the greater as our strength faileth.
Here lies our leader ,in the dust of his greatness.
Who leaves him now , be damned forever.
We who are old now shall not leave this Battle,
But lie at his feet , in the dust with our leader
House Carles at the Battle of Hastings
No. This helmet was on local auction site 2-4 years ago and I missed the auction then. But today I discovered that it is for sale again and as I knew the seller, I just placed a bid and got it. So maybe it is already resold 2-3 times, who knows. I actually just wanted to see it in person and to find out, if it possible to clean it or not. SS helmets are also pretty rare here and if the helmets seems to be original, price is fair, I'm always interested in it.
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