This M40 look too clean, liner too clean?

[Adrian]

If you've been into antiques for that long you should also realise that just because something looks new, doesn't mean it's fake......

[Schwerpunkt]

I've been into antiques for about 30yrs, and I have eagle eyes, especially up close... artificially aged is just that.

You are talking yourself into a corner here , you are a new helmet collector. You ask for advice yet you seem to know how it all works.
Yes this topic proves you have eagle eyes

[AMTG]

This forum is going in the wrong direction recently....long standing members losing patience and telling other to "do your own research", new members taking advantage......people will be afraid to ask any question soon without a disclaimer at the start stating " I have tried to research but I can't find the answer"

[MD Helmets]

We all know that there are mint helmets from WWII, and junk helmets from WWII. There are mint repros from last week, and mint repros from WWII era. Some helmets are one lookers, some are 100 times lookers. Adrian has a very valid point, but lets stick to this helmet and its qualities. That's what helps us determine genuine, not comparing months collecting to years and decades. If someone has that much confidence in their abilities to spot real vs fake based on so many years of experience and an items minti-ness, than so be it, that's up to them. I think this is a repainted shell with an original liner, and I haven't been in the antique business ever My mom has been for almost 50 years, but that's a whole other story.

[geelong]

some more photos maybe of riverts under liner. may help

[Doppelgänger]

If you've been into antiques for that long you should also realise that just because something looks new, doesn't mean it's fake......

I don't deal in absolutes, and in life there are many grey areas. So, you're absolutely right " just because something looks new, doesn't mean it's fake", it just [usually] means that there is a high probability that it is... when you're dealing with combat helmets, not Fenton glassware or other forms of "antiques" that can still "look new" decades if not centuries after they were made.

Hey , I appreciate all the input here. I'm not here to quibble about how possibly righteous some helmet that never went outside during the whole war is... The helmet in question I passed on as soon as I got a few replies here. If there is any "reasonable doubt", which I already had, I can move on, and I did. I'm far from trying to ruffle anyone's decal feathers... ;-)


I think I made it clear I like items with some obvious combat history, I just like things that way. And IMHO it is very hard to fake "the real thing". Some of my other areas of collecting include watches (another place to be very careful), and vintage guitars (which I've been into collecting since the 80's), and especially with guitars as in some holy grail 1963 Strat you might be looking at, there are probably many more fine details to take into account than a shell, a liner, three rivets, a decal (or none) and maybe a chinstrap...

That said, I might barely know squat about helmets, but there's always the old gut instincts, and looking, and looking, and learning.

[KradSpam]

Odd vent for an SE M40 is it not? Did they use 2 different vent stamping tools there?