FJ M38: Fake or original

[mvix]

Hello everybody. I´m new to this community and I decided to join it after reading large amount of posts here and it looks like a nice and helpful community to learn about German helmets. I'm fascinated by history and particularly in the second world war. I really want to learn about these helmets as much as I can and I can't wait to get one myself (original of course). But my knowledge about these this is really restricted at this point of time .

I would really appreciate if someone could clear this up for me. I really would want this to be a real helmet but I have my doubts.

[cricketchris1944]

Sorry not a good one,

[Walkwolf]

This one is a fake helmet, IMO. For one, it has been covered with dirt
or some kind of substance to make it look aged, and also the decal
is too clean for the condition of the shell. There is a printing error
in the decal as well..............

[davejb]

Mvix, i would say your doubts are confirmed, firstly the liner looks artificially aged as does the helmet itself, the major telltail in this would be the price, how much is being asked, does the helmet have any markings inside ie right hand side where your ear would be, the helmet looks to be the wrong shape, the decal appears to be a repro what with the white line on one border and black on the other. BTW welcome to the forum, if your starting up in this collecting madness we all have then i would suggest you firstly start by buying as many reference books on the subject as possible and handling real helmets , you will soon be as mad as the rest of us

[cricketchris1944]

Where are we 1000 fakes and 2 good ones.
I think for some of us we can spot a fake fallschirmjager helmet a mile away.

[mvix]

Yeah the decal raised my suspicion. Therefore I didn't have high hopes for it but as I don't know alot about these helmets I always thought "but what if I'm wrong about this one". Anyways thanks alot guys, money well saved .

[davejb]

Yes but how much was being asked ?

[helmet2id]

Even the shell is a repro.

[mvix]

There were no bids by buyers but the starting bid was 105€ if I recall correctly. I have heard that if it´s to good to be true it usually is. I thought it was a fake but I just wanted to make sure about it.

[davejb]

Consider that a M38 in a poor condition would probably start at 2500€ , other better helmets would reach the high thousands, you have to be extremely lucky to come across one that you could comfortably afford and well below the normal asking price unless of course a family member happens to have one in the attic since the war