SS Helmet w/ Winter Camo

[Rossi]

First of all welcome to the forum. If you can live with it and enjoy then keep. Trust the gut and if your not feeling sure get the money back. I have only bought a few items from dealers in the 30+ years. Is Denis a dealer and if he is worth his salt at all as one or a collector he should offer an inspection period to authenticate and for you to inspect. What if any are the terms you arranged? Personally I would return and hold out for a more stable purchase. Wish you well.

[BOB COLEMAN]

It is never wise to try and convince yourself to make a purchase. A lesson I learned after numerous mistakes. It is up to you.

[christek]

Hi Troy, welcome to this fine forum.
I can only reiterate what the others have said.

Don't make the mistake of feeling bad or the worse one of convincing yourself you got a good deal. In my short experience, these do not exist for TR SS items anymore. I'm sure in twenty years or so, us new collectors (I'm still new and its been ten years for me) will boast how cheap we purchased our WWII US items or even Japanese items, but German items do not come cheap, SS items especially so. 2 k is A LOT of money, don't get me wrong, but 2 original SS helmets in that condition would be MUCH more. Keep in mind 2k is about half way there to a decent SS helmet. You will be there soon!

If you are comfortable with the the fatal flaws, by all means go ahead with your 'deal'. I'm not at all the same high caliber of knowledge as others who have commented; but the pretty obvious rust/patina over-paint of the name, to me, catches the fraud strait away. I must add to the advice given, that sure, keep it if you are happy and do not plan to invest in your militaria, only enjoy it. But golly, I for one would want my 2k spent, to be for an investment for the future, otherwise I would go to the casino for my kicks and god knows where-else!

If you are happy to enjoy them, knowing that the flaws and expert opinions (of others than the 'esteemed' 'mr kelly') are on this forum for eternity, then enjoy! If not, REFUND now!!! Its really easy with Paypal.

You have been given sound advice, what you do with it is up to you. cheers

[Schwerpunkt]

In a weird turn of events, the seller sought to prove the helmet's authenticity by sending photos to Kelly Hicks. He forwarded me the entire email conversation. Kelly Hicks apparently had this to say:

"Hi Denis,
Thanks for the emails. I looked at the pictures carefully and I think they both have a high chance of being original. I like the snow camouflage. But the decal is impossible to determine from the pictures. I would only be guessing on it.

Fort the et helmet, I like it mostly, but I think the chinstrap may be fake. As for the decal, I like the design and materials but I don't understand why the extra line down the right side, outside of the border.
Relic helmets are always a challenge!
Kind regards,
Kelly"

Denis, the seller, had this to say:

"Kelly, thank you for your answer! I appreciate your opinion. Winter helmet was found in Karelia. The second helmet was found by Velikiy Novgorod in the blue clay. Blue clay very well keeps the skin and metal. Maybe there were two, one sticker is worn out and pasted it on another?"

I was highly suspicious, so I emailed Kelly Hicks and asked whether the correspondence was genuine. To my surprise, Kelly responded and confirmed that the conversation did indeed take place - "Hi Troy,
Thanks for the email. I did indeed look at Denis 's helmets. I think they have a good chance of being real. I will be happy to assist you with them in the future as needed.

Best regards,
Kelly "

I'm going to go forward with this purchase, and then send the helmets to Kelly once I receive them. I'm completely new to this arena and I'm not sure how much weight Kelly Hicks holds in the helmet community, but I thought this was worth sharing!

You'd better take the advice from the members here , Kelly is really bad with photos and has blessed fakes like that before.
It will be in my opinion a waste of time and money from your side.

From the photos provided I would pass and I am sure better photos would even give a more definitive conclusion.
The helmet is also an NS , we know they did not do factory decalled SS helmets so the decal must hold up to being a CA Pocher one.

[LeonardoL]

I could not disagree with you more. I don't collect relics, but looking at this one I see so many red flags it would take a week to list them all. I don't know how you can say the decal is good. The name is painted over decades old pitting. Those two issues are enough for me to say with a high degree of confidence that this is a relic that has been dressed up to take advantage of a novice collector. I hope the OP gets a refund. The seller should also be identified so that others won't be victimized. Just my 2cents. Jim G.

First lets get something straight, im not suggesting the seller to keep this piece.

Not going on an offensive here, i just want to know why do you think the helmet (apart from the decal) is bad, and write some of the red flags.

Im not saying i know everything but ive had and seen quite a few camo relics, even from dead soldiers whose equpment was reburied after the Volksbund exhumed them.

Take a look at the circles ive made. Im still stating this is an geniue winter camo. You see how the camo is yellow on some spots? Thats the paint oxidation, it was heavily scrubbed and it exposed the original white. The name looks totaly original to me, the pitting starts underneath the paint so it goes through the name and takes chips of the paint off.

[Walkwolf]

A note to the buyer - Paypal has a guarantee that only
covers up to $1000. If he is honest, the seller
should return your money promptly if
you are not satisfied.

I personally would never spend $2000+ on relics
in such poor condition.........

[Danmark]

A note to the buyer - Paypal has a guarantee that only
covers up to $1000. If he is honest, the seller
should return your money promptly if
you are not satisfied.

I personally would never spend $2000+ on relics
in such poor condition.........

Thanks Steve, I forgot about the dollar limit.
With due respect to our Croatian colleague, if we have to forensically examine them to arrive at a yay or nay then best to err on the side of caution. As i said earlier, they are now not what they once were........
Dan

[ardennes44]

I agree with LeonardoL about the white camo paint. I have a relic helmet in similar condition which is show below:
No opinion on the ss decal.