Time Capsule Lids?

[FranzJon]

Are there any stories in the collector community of perfect, literally perfect helmets? I mean like coated in cosmoline, wrapped in burlap and stored in a wine cellar somewhere? Any crazy stories of literally perfect lids?

[Schwerpunkt]

Can you define "perfect" better Franz. I have seen amazingly mint helmets. And a huge bunch of near mint helmets with small nicks in the paint or some wear to the rivet heads.
As always the color of the liner and the condition of the leather will show you how much (if at all) a helmet was worn.

Here's what I consider a near mint ET M42 Luftwaffe helmet , leather perfect , decal perfect and chinstrap brand new so to speak. Only some expected minor damage to the paint.

This one was most surely not used in combat or never even worn. We'll never know for sure.

[FranzJon]

wow... yeah that's mint.

I just thought there might be some legends in the collector community describing the warehouse building at Thale and a crate of unused M42's found in 1992 or something like that???
I mean REALLY like-new appearing helmets, helmets that even defy the ravages of age and oxidation.

[Schwerpunkt]

The best chance for the helmets have always been the American souvenir hunters who broughts many thousands of helmets back to the US.
Some from new stock , some from the battlefield or taken from prisoners.

Germany has never been a big source for its own helmets for understandable reasons. A lot of them were overpainted for firemen's use , denazified , or melted down.

The five helmet factories have always been someone's property so I don't assume they just closed them down with everything in it.

[Eric Zentner]

TOP of the line one the best ive seen good to see on like this..

[ObKrieger]

I can't remember the page, but if you take a look at Ken N's book, 'Germany's Combat Helmets 1933-1945', there is a Luftwaffe helmet with the liner size still written on the top of the shell. It is in unissued condition.

Other than that I don't think you can ever find a helmet in better condition than unissued with a few storage scratches. Who knows, maybe one day someone will come across a warehouse with a box of unissued double decal SS M40's.

[Glenn66]

and wouldn't THAT pi$$ off the guys who've paid mega bucks for those lids over the years

[ObKrieger]

and wouldn't THAT pi$$ off the guys who've paid mega bucks for those lids over the years

Well they wouldn't go cheap, that's for sure. One would probably go into the collections of each prominent German helmet guru, and the rest would be sold for thousands upon thousands of dollars apiece to the rest of the community.

It's a big world, so I'm sure that somewhere there is a German helmet El Dorado waiting to be discovered. Maybe there is a place in Russia somewhere with a box of helmets, perhaps 30 or so. They may not be SS M40's but it would be neat anyway!

[DougB]

I picked up a dead mint unissued never been worn defies the ravages of time LW M40 Q not long ago, and have a couple of other dead mint helmets as well on the wall. Quite a few LW M40's around actually that probably meet the description of a warehouse find and then brought back by GI's.

[ObKrieger]

I picked up a dead mint unissued never been worn defies the ravages of time LW M40 Q not long ago, and have a couple of other dead mint helmets as well on the wall. Quite a few LW M40's around actually that probably meet the description of a warehouse find and then brought back by GI's.

I'd like to see pictures of this Quist M40 Doug.