We must be diligent!!

[CampX]

Wow, I never would have thought!!! Thank you for this post!!!

Dean O

[jimpy]

And this is precisely why I DONOT collect TR kit. it is such a minefield as to be unbelieveable!

Yes, given time, there are red-flags that I would have probably picked up on, but, on initial looking and, being totally honest, if it had not been stated by Dan right at the beginning. I would have sworn that this was a genuine ground-dug relic.

Thanks for raising this one Dan

Regards etc

Ian D

AKA: Jimpy

[Wagriff]

Fake ground dug rusted out hunks of steel....and I thought it was bad when they started making brand New "Nazi helmets", years back....One has to wonder just how great the Cost is of people being cheated out of their moneys, given the enormity and unbelievable breadth of the faking industries today. It must be Millions annually...

[Larry C]

Sadly the true collectors of today..are just a mere handful....compared to the hit and run one line posters is it real? There one day will hardly be but a few sentinel researchers and collectors. The hobby will continue on..and the fake stuff will quadruple.

[mauser98k]

The Future of this Hobby is going to be very interesting.A lot of new and young collectors are going to become very disenchanted with it when they find out that they have been caught out by stuff like this and are out unknown amounts of Money

Martin

[Mark K]

Hi Martin and Larry I could not agree more and we see it here all the time with new members seeking advice and or opinions on there new finds or purchases just to be let down as of late I have been delving into Camo Mk II helmets this is a hole other mine field as they are widely faked and messed with as are the WW II US-M-1 helmets .

Regards Mark

[Anzel]

It is always amazing to see the time and effort put into making these fake bandits. Could you imagine if these fakers used their time and actually made something original with their time and left this hobby alone..? Thanks for posting this example of how junk enters the market. First, represented as reproduction and next unknown... Crazy to think even fake de-nazified items are being sold as original.

[WW2headgearlover]

I have now started to notice this phenomenon with so called ground dug Mk II's coming for the most part out of Normandy and Eastern Europe as I have been looking to add a battle damaged example to my collection for some time.
And Doug I could not agree more fillers and or refitted and messed with helmets and other military will be the bain of collectors in the future and IMO there will be quite the mess to sort through in the years to come to discern what is real and what is fantasy especially for the new starting in this hobbie.

Regards Mark

Not only that, it might effect the value of our good lids.

[WW2headgearlover]

>>LIKE<<

This is why "making" a helmet - for any reason - into something it wasn't should not be condoned by collectors, even for "filler".

I've been slagged in the past by relic collectors when I have said exactly what Dan has said above. I trust relics less than any other helmet in fact.
.

I agree, and IMO fakes, repros should be marked as such or not allowed for sale on militaria forums. By marking I mean physically on the item in a way it is not noticeable if on display but will show tampering if removed.

[WW2headgearlover]

And this is precisely why I DONOT collect TR kit. it is such a minefield as to be unbelieveable!

Yes, given time, there are red-flags that I would have probably picked up on, but, on initial looking and, being totally honest, if it had not been stated by Dan right at the beginning. I would have sworn that this was a genuine ground-dug relic.

Thanks for raising this one Dan

Regards etc

Ian D

AKA: Jimpy

I used to think the same way, no TR for me. Then in 2008 with the help of militaria forums and experts, and with some knowledge gained I bought a few items. Also relics, dug up, battlefield pickups, POW areas, discarded medals [BErlin}, all from trusted diggers. And ok yes a few Ebay items that turned out to be good.