Rare german helmet????

[duck killer]

picked up this old German helmet. Was hopein' someone could give me a little insight on it. Im in the antique fishing tackle trade so this is a little out of my field of knowledge. Any and all information is appreciated, i'm also curious on how much it may be worth.
Sorry for the poor pictures, camera is down and had to use the lap top.
Thanks in advance!

[Rommel1942]

Welcome to the Forum!

It looks to me like a WW1 German/Bavarian helmet, that's either been personalized (owner dressed it up during the war), or destroyed by someone trying to make it look cool, after the war. It looks very recent though...

Regards,
Finn

[duck killer]

Thanks! its my belief that the paint is from the time. You can tell its been on a long while. There is a shield on the right side, can anyone identify that mark? All the paint on the helmet looks to be from around the same time period judged by the even patina. It looks terrible with the low quality pictures. How much are helmets like this selling for?
Thanks again guys!

[helmet2id]

The skull and cross bones might be Finnish, although i think there are period photos of Freikorps soldiers with similar markings on the front of their stahlhelms. Better pictures are needed before anyone will be able to evaluate it meaningfully. If it is a Finnish skull it probably should not be on a helmet with what looks to be a interwar Freikorps shield. These may not be period applied, but since I haven't held the piece and looked closely at the insignia, or look at the liner and chinstrap, I will not say, one way or another, whether I think the insignia are period or not. Jim G.

[duck killer]

Thanks for the info, I will try to get better pictures up soon.

[SteveR]

There is no way to give any kind of opinion other than bad on this helmet with the pictures provided. Without clear well lit closeup photos I could only believe that it is a helmet that has been faked. Sorry
Steve

[cricketchris1944]

The skull and cross bones might be Finnish, although i think there are period photos of Freikorps soldiers with similar markings on the front of their stahlhelms. Better pictures are needed before anyone will be able to evaluate it meaningfully. If it is a Finnish skull it probably should not be on a helmet with what looks to be a interwar Freikorps shield. These may not be period applied, but since I haven't held the piece and looked closely at the insignia, or look at the liner and chinstrap, I will not say, one way or another, whether I think the insignia are period or not. Jim G.

I do not think this helmet is period made .I agree with the info you gave .need better pictures.

[duck killer]

yup... understood better pictures needed to identify authenticity.

[oradour]

duck killer, from the photos provided, which are poor..it is a model 1916 German helmet shell at the very least, as other members state better photographs are needed to determine authenticity....it (at the moment) looks to be repainted with a bit of artistic licence, based on the Freikorps style (although helmet2id is correct about the Finnish use of the skull/crossed bones). Please provide better photographs, particularly of the interior.

[AZPhil]

Freikorps, Is what came to mind.
There is a shield on the right side of that helm. Is there anything on the left side? Better pic's will tell