Need a little help: post war German helmet

[NickD]

thanks everyone some very excellent info that has helped me out immensely

[NickD]

hiya guys i need your expertise again i bought the helmet below for £62 of eBay i know its not ww2 but i was hoping one of you great guys could help me out any way. im not really sure what era it is if it is Vietnam as the liner set up has me confused a wee bit & there are no date stamps of any kind the only stamps are the one in the liner M & CO.057 & the one in the shell its self. so if any one can shed some light on this i would be very grateful & whether i wasted my money or not??

[thiele-lund]

Hi Olaf,

Thanks for your information! Nice to "see" you in this forum as well!

Cheers,
Emile

Beste Emile,

ik was blij en "oude kennis" zoals jou hier te vinden!

Groeten,

Olaf

[thiele-lund]

... im not really sure what era it is if it is Vietnam as the liner set up has me confused a wee bit & there are no date stamps of any kind the only stamps are the one in the liner M & CO.057 & the one in the shell its self. ...

Dear Wolfman,

this seems to be a very nice M1 helmet and liner out of German production.

The liner stamp, I believe, is from Maury & Co in Germany (It may be Offenbach, I can't remember), dated 1957. I haven't seen this stamping before, I must admit, but this the only solution that seems logical.

The FWQE stamp still is a riddle to me. The nearest I got to a solution is "Friedrich W Quist, Esslingen" (Baden-Württemberg). Unfortunately, I still have no confirmation of this. Quist was an old and active company that has been producing steel helmets until well after the war, but it does not anymore.

The give-away that put me on track was the liner chin-strap. In some German productions, it is much broader than the US variant.

62 GBP is a very proud price for one of these, but I think I'd pay it for this helmet. German M1s are hard to come by.

Emile, what's your opinion?

Yours,

Olaf

[NickD]

cool thanks thiele-lund i was kinda thinking foreign use/made but as im still learning & couldn't find any info on this only the US used ones i end up hitting a brick wall. so if anyone has any really good sites to use please let me know.


i do use this site for ww2 German helmets The Online Guide to World War II German Helmets & this one for US ww2 helmets Home of the M-1 Helmet but anything else post war i cant seem to find any sites. so if any of you fine guys know of any really good sites that could help me out i would be very grateful

[emileverbunt]

Hello Wolfman and Olaf,

This is an interesting helmet.

It struck me that the liner has some Dutch traits. The neckband is not adaptable to size. This was the case on the Dutch Verblifa fibre liners from the fifties. The identification of a VB helmet is easy. It should be marked by a circle with production year and quarter. For instance: VB 1953or VB 54 3. This is pressed in the matter on the inside of the peak. The rivets should be of the spanner bolt type.

This helmet does not have these bolts. Hollow rivets seem to have been used, just like on the SCHUBERT fibre liners made for the Dutch. These are marked i.e. SW 65 (white ink stamp) or imprinted in dome a N in circle.

Now what Olaf says makes sense. German production, possibly Maury & Co. I never have seen an early German liner, neither have I measured the chinstraps, but the early Dutch ones do not have the crease on the edges. So likely German.

About the shell I cannot add an educated opinion. But German production seems likely.

I am very curious for a definite identification!

Cheers,

BTW Olaf your Dutch is good!

This site has some excelent info on Dutch helmets.

dutchhelmets: 01/04/2007

[ace]

hey wolfman is it glue marks on helmet might sound stupid but a hairdryer might help my mate, it gets the glue moistened but not the paint i use it on my motorcycle tanks to get rid of the decals ,hope this helps

[NickD]

Hello Wolfman and Olaf,

This is an interesting helmet.

It struck me that the liner has some Dutch traits. The neckband is not adaptable to size. This was the case on the Dutch Verblifa fibre liners from the fifties. The identification of a VB helmet is easy. It should be marked by a circle with production year and quarter. For instance: VB 1953or VB 54 3. This is pressed in the matter on the inside of the peak. The rivets should be of the spanner bolt type.

This helmet does not have these bolts. Hollow rivets seem to have been used, just like on the SCHUBERT fibre liners made for the Dutch. These are marked i.e. SW 65 (white ink stamp) or imprinted in dome a N in circle.

Now what Olaf says makes sense. German production, possibly Maury & Co. I never have seen an early German liner, neither have I measured the chinstraps, but the early Dutch ones do not have the crease on the edges. So likely German.

About the shell I cannot add an educated opinion. But German production seems likely.

I am very curious for a definite identification!

Cheers,

BTW Olaf your Dutch is good!

This site has some excelent info on Dutch helmets.

dutchhelmets: 01/04/2007

thanks again emile for your help it is indeed a very interesting helmet there is no stamp on the peak the only other stamps i can find is a set of numbers 3521/3 & one that's like lines in a circle form like a clock with the number 56 in the middle as for the steel shell i cant find any more markings what so ever.

@ ace yes it looks like it might have had some sort of tape on it at some point which has been removed leaving behind the glue so thanks for the tip.

[emileverbunt]

Hello Wolfman,

Thanks for your reaction. I might be mistaken, but is there a remnant of a removed rectangular sticker or paint on the side of the shell, just above the chinstrap bale? Is this trace to be found on the other side as well? If so this might be a Belgian helmet. The Belgians added a national flag on both sides. No letters ABL anywhere?

Could you measure the hight of the steel shell? This is a give away as well since the Belgian M1 clones are a bit lower than the US M1 or clones.

I'll look up the different liner markings this weekend.

Cheers,
Emile

[NickD]

Hello Wolfman,

Thanks for your reaction. I might be mistaken, but is there a remnant of a removed rectangular sticker or paint on the side of the shell, just above the chinstrap bale? Is this trace to be found on the other side as well? If so this might be a Belgian helmet. The Belgians added a national flag on both sides. No letters ABL anywhere?

Could you measure the hight of the steel shell? This is a give away as well since the Belgian M1 clones are a bit lower than the US M1 or clones.

I'll look up the different liner markings this weekend.

Cheers,
Emile

hiya emile the height is about 17cm-170mm & it dosent seem to have had any kind of decals on it that i can see any way hope this helps & thanks for all your help