Trying to learn

[Jerry B]

I noticed in the add that he stated a friend said it might be a repro!

[Steve Newman]

I did try saving them and couldnt seem to do it, so thanks for posting them up. The red liner did look pretty obvious and I have read people on here mentioning 'nine tongue liners' and this looked like eight but I dont know the relevance of this and would welcome someone who could put me right on that point.

As to the price it sold for, would that be about right for a display piece that looks ok, or is it way over, or perhaps worth the punt on the chance the decals and camo, netting etc are original.

Thanks again for the help, as whilst long time collector of militaria who has a pretty good all round knowledge this is such a specialised field that I am very keen to improve my knowledge to allow me to at least have a fighting chance when looking at such items

Cheers
Steve

[Steve Newman]

Just to clarify where I said above 'looked ok' I meant for display/re-enactment etc, rather than looking ok/genuine

Steve

[davejb]

I see them now , thanks, didnt scroll down far enough DOH, steve the issue with 9 tongue liners isnt special really, they are normally found on the larger size helmets but do tend to come up on the Norwegian liners quite often and with the red dye, you will come across 9 tongue liners that have been restitched to fit the smaller helmets, which could have been done in period if a suitable size wasnt available but are original, however i would be reluctant to pay that amount of money for this piece, ive found that with e-bay , if theres no photos of the makers marks or lot no/ 9 times out of 10 they are replicas or refurbed Norwegian helmets

[Steve Newman]

Thank you Davejb, appreciate your input. I have been trying to read up on the makers marks and get a better feel for them, is there a site you could recommend where I could get the background of them, or is there something key one should always run away from or be delighted to find?

Apologies for so many questions, but cannot say how fascinating I have been finding this having read just a bout every thread on this section of the forum

Steve

[Davidh]

Hi, first of all if it seems to good to be true it most probably is, if sellers send angled pics of decals or try to obscure them i would pass, stay away from ss/camos/chickenwires until more experienced or post them up on here, stay away from bargains from pawel nowack, and buy a few good books on the subject thats a must rgds Dave

[Davidh]

ebay is great for bargains but be prepared to wade thru tons of crap to find them , but i enjoy it and have had quite a few little finds from there rgds Dave

[davejb]

The thing to do is buy the best possible books on the subject there is and there are many but there are only a few which are considered to be the "bibles" also handle as many authentic examples as you can, get the feel of them and even the smell ,you may look strange doing it but real helmets and liners have a distinctive smell about them, this also helps in telling if a helmet has been painted within a couple of yrs or so , newish paint will still give off that fresh aroma, also telling if a decal is real can be daunting, has it been added at a later stage, is it a repro,does it have the correct tell tail signs of originality, this isnt the be all and end all of recognising real from repro and it wont be a case of knowing everything in a few months either, but learning from reference books and handling will give you a basic knowledge, plus the fun of learning will be enjoyable

[Steve Newman]

Many thanks on the good advice which I will endeavour to follow.

Back to the original helmet is it a complete repaint, fake wire Norwegian liner or did it have anything going for it at all?

Cheers
Steve

[DougB]

Many thanks on the good advice which I will endeavour to follow.

Back to the original helmet is it a complete repaint, fake wire Norwegian liner or did it have anything going for it at all?

Cheers
Steve

It has nothing going for it. Stick to the advice given here and dont hold hope where there is none, if the helmet had any redeeming qualities it would be long sold.