M18 braun helmet

[olssonowe]

Hi wounder if you can help me
I just got this M18 helmet with braun org paint as first layer.
Den its blueisch could have been painted in ww2
Then it had a yellow paint layer, but that is post ww2 used in a factory
as a worker helmet for many years. In Norway...Where the German army
left it after ww2

[olssonowe]

yeah I know last owner take out leather innings....
Im removing the yellow paint, And here is my reason for this post could the blue paint be orginal too, but I think I must take it out... or I just leave it the way it is. both ww1 and ww2 paint.
Ill ask the last owner if he got any more info re this helmet...

Is this a German helmet or an Austian helmet, and how do one tell them apart???

[oradour]

olssonowe, welcome to the forum, better photographs are needed of your helmet, of both shell and liner....from what I can see your helmet shell is an M18 German, the liner appears to be an M17 metal band type, without close-up photos I cannot tell if it has attached chinstrap bails....German M18 helmets had a metal liner band with swivel type chinstrap bails attached to the liner band, where as an Austro-Hungarian M17 helmet had the chinstrap bails rivetted to the helmet shell, high up on the skirt below the vent lugs, does the helmet have a maker mark, for example ''ET64'' it will be on the inside of the skirt close to the dip where the visor starts, on the left side as you look at the helmet from the front. Hope this helps.

[olssonowe]

Do you have any intel on the braun and blue paint. (the yellow paint is factory worker id paint pre ww2). That I will remove, its just 3 smaller dots.
Kinda dont like to do to much on somebody thats 92 years old, and seen both ww.
Thanks for the intell re org, former owner say its Austrian. But Im with you must be German..
more photos are on the way. Thanks for a Great forum bytheway.
best regs

[olssonowe]

Hi and thanks for all the intel
here is some more photos of my "new" 92 years old helmet....
Cant see any markings yet, must remove the new paint, yellow and blue.
Im soo happy

[olssonowe]

hm the photos did not make it?

[oradour]

olssonowe, from your new photos, it does indeed look to be an Austro-Hungarian M17 stahlhelm, note how the rivit is high up on the skirt (is there a chinstrap bail on the otherside ?) this could not be seen on your first photo, too high for a German M16/17...need interior shots to determine 100%, the brown paint is probably the original finish, any markings inside of helmet, on the skirt near to the front visor ?......the remnants of the chinstrap are not IMO original to the helmet.

[olssonowe]

Cant finde any markings at all. hm not sure what is a bail. but here is a photo of the other side.

[olssonowe]

Im removing all the paint, and restoring it to the braun orgin paint.
I have allready removed all the paint from the shinstrap and the helmet lining...
I got this one for 100 eu did I get riped of???

[oradour]

olssonowe, please post photo of the inside of the helmet.....the ''bail'' is what the chinstrap is affixed to inside the helmet. If it is what I think it is, an Austro-Hungarian helmet, then for 100 euro you got a bargain !...but I need to see the inside of helmet to conform.