1941 Dated C.L/.C. sporting early first variation chinstrap

[Mark K]

I know I know how many Canadian Mk II helmets does a Gent need in his collection but this example has a nice deep rich worn patina that just speaks of heavy field use and has that been there done that look I like so much in my helmets.
As stated it is a 1941 C.L/.C. steel lot batch 35 it is sporting a 42 dated VMC liner in a size 7 1/8.
The real prize of course is that it is fitted with the not often seen first variation Mk II chinstrap with closed center strut.
Backstay standards of Windsor Ontario was the sole producer of all Canadian chinstraps that were manufactured for the Mk II in Canada through out the 1940-1943 production run :
There was only one change instituted on the Canadian produced variation of the Mk II chin-strap.
The earliest chin-straps differed from the later Canadian pattern by having a blackened brass buckle with two closed centre struts, and only one piece of webbing joining the two sprung pieces.
After 1940, Canadian chinstraps had two strips of webbing, one of which has a free sewn-
folded over end, the other of which was sewn to the centre strut of a buckle the sprung canvas ends on the sides of the chinstrap were manufactured with non magnetic springs.

Regards Mark

[Jerry B]

Another cracking addition Mark. A man can never have too many in his collection.

[tinlid]

I know ideally we would like our helmets to have an div',Reg' flash, or a name or number scratched on the inside. But the vast majority would been an unmarked just like this one, but it's got wear & a look of being used which is all good, & i think even these ones in time will be hard to come across.

[Steelhead10]

very nice Mark a great MKII and as Aaron said they will become harder to come by and thanks for posting it.

Matt

[ynot]

It's not about how many you need, it's about how many of these beauties can you buy before you run out of room or even worse, the wife finds out what you've really been paying

A great looking helmet.

Tony

[Gunny Hartmann]

Nice find!.....

[Mark K]

Thanks Gents and one can never have to many helmets in there collection but the lack of room to display them does become problematic as my wife keeps reminding me.
I love these well worn Mk II's and have a couple of others as well in my collection they are all unique in there own way .
Aaron I could not agree more with your statement as I find Canadian Mk II's showing this much heavy wear and patina hard to source already probably due to the fact that most examples still in service post war would have received a new paint job in either Gloss and or Semi Gloss OD green as they continued to be Canada's main battle helmet for 20 odd years after the war.
And I concure that for the most part that the Canadian Mk II in this configuration with just factory paint would be the norm seen worn by Cdn soldiers in the ETO as flashed examples would have been very scarce and army group and or Unit specific so quite out of the norm which is evident upon studying period images.

Regards Mark

[SteveR]

I love the enthusiasm you have for your helmets.
It makes me feel normal.
Get as many common helmets as you can find while they are cheap. I have done that and been very happy with the results.

[FALLSCHIRMJAGER]

I love it Mark, another fine helmet for your Canadian helmet collection. It has just the right level of wear and looks superb, and as you say, the chinstrap is a scarce one, I have not seen one over on this side of the pond. Leon.

[Mark K]

I love the enthusiasm you have for your helmets.
It makes me feel normal.
Get as many common helmets as you can find while they are cheap. I have done that and been very happy with the results.

Thanks for the reply Steve and yes I know they are considered common and even un-interesting by some collectors but I find them a fascinating subject the war time production numbers of Canadian Mk II helmets was quite small as there were only 976,600 combat grade helmet bodies and 155,000 mild steel variations produced for the Civil Defence network/ARP between 1940-1943.
In comparison to the US M-1 war time production numbers of 22 million so when I search out new examples to add to my shelf which I might add is all the time and interesting examples are getting hard to source .
Thanks Leon and I do agree it has just the right amount of wear as to the chinstrap it is the fifth example of this particular early variation that graces my collection.