Antique shop find - iraq m/80 helmet

[Jb4046]

Picked this up at a near antique shop for £35 . Pretty chuffed with it considering it still has i think a arabic name inscribed

[Greg Pickersgill]

Better than just the name, you have a very nicely printed Iraqi army supply triangle. These SKorean-origin helmets were pretty widely exported and that marking shows it indisputably Iraqi-used.

[Jb4046]

You can really tell they took inspiration from the m1 helmet . The shop keeper even said its an American helmet of some sort like the ones from kellys heros . But it was pretty easy to spot something was off with that claim

[Greg Pickersgill]

I have seen these helmets being 'sold' as "early rare US M1 liners", and also actual M1 liners being passed off as 'rare Iraqi helmets'. There is no end to the ignorance - or deviousness - of some militaria dealers. Of course they depend on the buyer being under-informed, so the more you know the better. And sometimes you can find something genuinely good and unusual that hasn't been recognised and bigged-up pricewise.

[kradman]

Nice helmet and good price , even these helmets are going up in price these days on what they were a few years ago

[battle gear]

they are original battlefield pick up / captured helmets , these are starting to become harder to find lately, most of them are in personal collections.

it's a nice example of the same helmet worn by these Iraqi soldiers in photo, their helmets are the same color as your helmet , the original factory paint, most of them were painted over in a desert tan for the field, many of the soldiers in Baghdad usually wore the standard green color.

Iraqi soldiers prepare for war November 14, 1998 in Baghdad, Iraq.

[Jb4046]

That man closest to the camera has a (soviet?) steel helmet . I would rather wear that in combat than the m/80 . I would assume the m80 plus m90 would shatter easily

[battle gear]

That man closest to the camera has a (soviet?) steel helmet . I would rather wear that in combat than the m/80 . I would assume the m80 plus m90 would shatter easily

the Iraqi's used a lot of Polish Wz-50 steel helmets, and just about any other steel helmets they could get, lots of old Soviet Bloc, and also old British steel helmets like the WW2 style and the turtle shell style

I bet the steel helmets got very hot in the desert sun if you had to wear one all day