M35 Double Decal Combat Police Helmet for opinions

**avenger** · 10-07-2015, 01:44 AM

That's good advice. I'll take it.

One option I have that I'm chewing on is keeping it until I find "the one", that is if I could get close to the $1050 I have in this one back (is that still a fair value on this one?). The return postage isn't looking cheap, so I'll be taking a loss one way or another if I send it back or sell it.

I've seen a number of US helmets in hand, and photos of these German helmets. For some reason, by and large the German helmets have suffered from rusting worse than others from what I've seen. I wonder why they're different?

**Espenlaub Militaria** · 10-07-2015 01:44 AM

We also buy and trade your items and full collections!

**MAP** · 10-07-2015, 02:08 AM

Not sure why US helmets appear to be in better shape beyond the fact that many US helmets we have are probably surplus vs german helmets which are battlefield pick ups that have see the horrors of war.

If you are really looking for a minty one, this will surely be a great place holder.

But this is a solid lid in great shape and is a combat vet. It's got a story in there somewhere...

**battle gear** · 10-07-2015, 02:41 AM

I think a lot of the German helmets are rusty from poor storage conditions, stored in a damp celler, in the barn, etc, plus the weather conditions in europe are pretty cold and harsh, so unless the owner kept it in a dry area, it's going to rust from long term storage, over 70 years ago, I remember seeing photos of captured German helmet simply piled up and left outside like scrap metal.

I think it looks good with the rust, since it's a original combat used helmet, with original finish, it looks nice on display

**Glenn66** · 10-07-2015, 03:26 PM

A coat of renaissance wax will darken the shell up a little and remove some of the rusty look and feel. I like it and for $100 think you did well, especially for a non-bordered decal.

**Schwerpunkt** · 10-07-2015, 05:19 PM

Doesn't look bad to me personally , I still think you got it at a good price.
I would hold onto it and if you really need a better one , upgrade and sell this one.

**avenger** · 10-07-2015, 06:31 PM

Thanks for the help guys. I think I'm as prepared to work out what I should do at this point as I'm going to be.

Many thanks again everyone for your time and thoughts! I hope everyone has a great rest of the week.

**helmet2id** · 10-07-2015, 10:19 PM

by Schwerpunkt

Doesn't look bad to me personally , I still think you got it at a good price.
I would hold onto it and if you really need a better one , upgrade and sell this one.

I agree 100%. Jim G.

**avenger** · 10-08-2015, 12:36 AM

Thanks Jim! I seem to be the only one who's seen this helmet that isn't feeling it yet. There must be something wrong with me. Though, I'm giving a lot of thought to using this one as an entry helmet, to sell and upgrade later. Everyone seems to think it's worth what I paid for it, so if it will sell for that down the road assuming no major market changes, I don't stand to lose anything and can try to enjoy this one in the mean time. If I can add another $1000 to the pool sometime next year, I bet I could find a really nice one for that price.

If I may change the subject on the condition of this helmet to something that's more a feature of it (no doubt a welcome change at this point

), I shined a blacklight on the helmet to see what it would show, and the decals did something I did not expect. When you hold a blacklight on them, they take on a "glow in the dark" looking yellow/green tone. Here are some photos. You can see it more on the police decal. I thought it was kind of an interesting discovery, and wonder what they put in those decals to cause them to glow like that, or if it's a product of aging. Kind of cool eh?

M35 Double Decal Combat Police Helmet for opinions

**Glenn66** · 10-08-2015, 06:55 AM

Never seen that before, interesting.

**avenger** · 10-08-2015, 07:10 AM

Yeah, I thought so too. I'm convinced the decals are original, and nobody has said otherwise, so either it's something they put on them back in the day, or someone has coated them in something to protect them at some point. I can see where light scuffs that haven't gone through the decal don't light up. But it's like Predator blood when it does. If they all do this though, maybe it's a way to tell if they're original? Seems like something that would be hard to fake, but I can't be the first person to shine a blacklight on these.

I had some downtime to spend a little time with the helmet tonight. I think it's starting grow on me. I think it's reasonable to say everything on it is original to it, which has to be getting harder to feel confident about these days. Looks like it might have had three owners, as I can see two names written on the liner, and what looks like a third scratched out. I wonder what was going on where it kept getting passed around. We need to find an artifact whisperer to reveal the mysteries of all these things we collect.