BGS Helmet?

**Bochmann** · 04-05-2012, 02:49 AM

I have had this helmet for a while and thought that I would post some photos in order to try and determine what this helmet actually is?
I apologise for the bad photos in advance and hope that you will not be distracted by the debris in the background but the helmet is starting to annoy me, because I do not know if it is postwar or not.

The helmet is much more of a police green colour than is shown in the pictures and where this paint has rubbed off, it has a black (Phosphate) finish.
The inside of the helmet is a more normal green colour and the attached chinstrap has been adapted from those used in para helmets, and I understand that this was done in some late war helmets as they were running out of proper straps.
I cannot find any stampings to the inside of the shell but the outside looks like a standard late M42 no decal.
I would welcome any comments on this item as if it is not original, I will just use it as a "filler"

**Espenlaub Militaria** · 04-05-2012 02:49 AM

We also buy and trade your items and full collections!

**MD Helmets** · 04-05-2012, 04:01 AM

Stampings on this would most likely be on the inside rear of the skirt. If it's been repainted it may be hard to see. The exterior green paint is post war as I have never seen that color on any wartime helmet. The chinstrap is hard to tell from just a few pics. The liner looks like it might be OK, but more pics would be useful. Did you buy this or are you thinking about buying?

**KradSpam** · 04-05-2012, 01:25 PM

Look for really weak stampings at the rear, I expect this to be a wartime produced ckl / ET helmet from the look of the vents. I don't think the paint is wartime, though I think the flash has altered the colour a bit maybe?

**Bochmann** · 04-05-2012, 04:55 PM

Sorry guys but the colour shown for the helmet is not the true one, it is more a police green or toxic green if you like and has a very "flat" finish, almost like a "wash" than an actual coat of paint.
The paint is not modern and I could feasibly remove it, but I do not want to ruin it, if it was put on for a reason.
I bought it sraight out of a blokes shed, which he got free with his house, so he could not add any history to it.
I had tried to find out more about it, hence the reason that I know about the chinstrap and possible police origins, so I guess the next stage is to take better photos in the hope that this will help clarify things.
Although it cost me no real money, I do not want to sell it, as I think it is interesting.

**oradour** · 04-05-2012, 05:16 PM

Better photographs are needed, especially around the chinstrap mounts...this helmet, if used post war, which they were....( By both Polizie and BGS) is not to my mind post-war made, and is probably of WW2 origin...it does not have the liner or chinstrap of the post-war made M35/40 style Model 1952 helmets, see this M52, for reference.....
Prost ! Steve.