A fake on ebay - but people are getting caught!

[Danmark]

Dan,

For those of us who inherited our Stahlhelme and / or got them from reputable dealers prior to the internet and as a consequence have never really learned what to look for w/ re: to fakes, what are all the things wrong with this?

What catches my eye: the liner perforations make me think its not german, mine dont look like that. It seems to've been repainted, and thus the decal would be BS too; but i dont really know for sure.

What else? i'm really genuinely curious! I've gotten good at spotting fake Pickelhauben (i hope!) but never learned the ropes for the fake stahlhelme.

g

Hello Glenn,
Many of us would say " work it out for yourself" but seeing you are a new member I'll point out what will soon be obvious as you collect and learn more.
1) The liner is completely wrong in material, finish and shape.
2) the ink stamps are a fantasy and original liners were never stamped that way. There was no 'Helm Fabrik" company I know of.
3) the chinstrap is wrong material and buckle shape is off.
4) beneath the 'hand painted' shield pokes out the top of an eagle shield ( this was the joke I made ) and the small part of the eagle ( Adler ) on the correct side shows it is a copy anyway.
5) The paint is the wrong color and glossy - and the vent has residue of black paint from a post war reissue ( probably to Czech forces )
6) there is another ink stamp ( just peeking out at the edge of the 2nd last photo ) that should never be on a ww2 helmet.
7) the name is not like what most soldiers did with white paint - they had a bit more pride and lettering can be quite good )

just so many faults.
Regards, Dan

[MAP]

Not sure what the listing said Dan, but did they advertise it as a DD M40?? Another thing to add to your list above (yes they existed but rare as Hens teeth...

surprised they also didn't list it as a KM given the gold tone of the adler...

[Danmark]

Good point Michael, thanks.
The seller said it was bought to use in a display and may or may not be refinished or even original but it still went that high......

[glennsche]

Hello Glenn,
Many of us would say " work it out for yourself" but seeing you are a new member I'll point out what will soon be obvious as you collect and learn more.
1) The liner is completely wrong in material, finish and shape.
2) the ink stamps are a fantasy and original liners were never stamped that way. There was no 'Helm Fabrik" company I know of.
3) the chinstrap is wrong material and buckle shape is off.
4) beneath the 'hand painted' shield pokes out the top of an eagle shield ( this was the joke I made ) and the small part of the eagle ( Adler ) on the correct side shows it is a copy anyway.
5) The paint is the wrong color and glossy - and the vent has residue of black paint from a post war reissue ( probably to Czech forces )
6) there is another ink stamp ( just peeking out at the edge of the 2nd last photo ) that should never be on a ww2 helmet.
7) the name is not like what most soldiers did with white paint - they had a bit more pride and lettering can be quite good )

just so many faults.
Regards, Dan

dan,

sincerest thanks for the info. i'm glad i got a number of these correct as well!

most of what you pointed out occured to me too but i couldnt articulate it quite as succinctly, so thank you for that. and i did miss a few above.

again, thanks!

and i've got 2 WH helmets and dont see myself looking for any more, but its still super good to learn more about them and the fakes and other things that are floating around out there. learnign these sorts of things is whyh i'm on this board.

and thank you for NOT being one of the "figure it out yourself" types; this sort of attitude was so pervasive amongst the C&R Shooting community that it was one of the reasons why i turned my back on shooting/collecting old guns.

[Brett]

Hello Dan
There's no point in letting the old blood pressure reach dangerous levels over misrepresented crap like this. Let it ride & just shake your head at the gullible stupidity of fools with money to burn who believe everything a seller says, without doing one iota of research themselves.
Caveat Emptor!

Regards
Brett

[Danmark]

Thanks mate... I was more dissapointed than angry but yes, b.p. needs to be kept in check for us old blokes.

Cheers, Dan

[Brett]

Thanks mate... I was more dissapointed than angry but yes, b.p. needs to be kept in check for us old blokes.

Cheers, Dan

I used to get agitated about stuff like this myself Dan, but now I put it in my watch list & watch the almost inevitable bidding war & last second sniping that seems to go hand in hand with this type of junk. Good entertainment. There's no point in being a Good Samaritan to people who make absolutely no effort to educate themselves.

Regards
Brett

[reneblacky]

Thanks Dan for the evilbay heads up - it makes a great addition to my collection! bidding was fierce!

[MAP]

It is sad money is wasted like this but less money to compete against helmets I want

[Schwerpunkt]

Dan,

For those of us who inherited our Stahlhelme and / or got them from reputable dealers prior to the internet and as a consequence have never really learned what to look for w/ re: to fakes, what are all the things wrong with this?

Reputable dealers ? They are all crooks. If you don't know what you are buying you will get burned by any of them.