Light blue FJ helmet with a difference.

[reneblacky]

My Wifey had a laugh- she'd do that conversion on all my helmets

[big ned]

I think I remember reading somewhere that these 'colanders' were produced immediately post war by the factories that produced the helmets as much needed cooking ware, perhaps a bit like a "swords into ploughshears" kind of thing. Afterall, it was important to get Germany working again quickly, and these could be produced with hardly any expensive re tooling whatsoever and were of value to both manufacturer and customer.

If that was the case, I see no reason why the helmet needed a lot or heat stamp applied in the way they were for use in battle to show that the helmet had passed Q.C., unless they were left over wartime production runs. For the same reasons I would think that there would be no paint or decals ever applied to the helmet, as it was not made to be one, it was made as a vegetable strainer!

Of course, it may well be a genuine Fallschirmjager helmet that has been cunningly fashioned into a piece of useful kitchenware, but for it to be enamelled there would be no trace of paint or decal left on it due to the requirements of the enamelling process. An interesting piece of social history indeed.

EDIT: Just found this, I think I posted it before a while back!

GERMAN FACTORY MAKING REDUNDANT WW2 GERMAN STEEL HELMETS INTO COOKING POTS, 1946 - YouTube

Regards, Ned.

[Datrus]

Very nice item, even a bit sacrilegious I think that i can faintly see the tool marks on the "cleaned" part.

Regards, Lars