Italian m-33 regio esercito, artillery

[real steel]

Figured I would show my one & only Italian helmet from my "International" collection. Early liner with parallel rear stitch & no metal grommets in tie string holes. So it is a true early one. Stencil has been deemed original not only from the seller, but other experienced collectors of Italian helmets

[MAP]

Sure is a beauty Mr. Steel....hard to improve on this...and so little rust (my inside joke as almost all of the ones I see are rusted, why I don't know).

I'm sure our Italian friend here will love to see it.

Nice untouched examples with stencils are so hard to find. I have 3 of these helmets, one post war, one plain jane original and one Regia Marina (Royal Navy) 1st Model with decal badge.

[OldSteel]

Hi real steel,
this is a nice M33, it certainly has all the features of an original helmet made in the late 30's.
The liner is still the one example of the first type, shell paint is pre-war, while rivets are a variant that does not fall into the classic coded models:
-1st type "rounded with small hole"
-2nd type "conical with large hole and step on the circumference"
-3rd type "rounded with big hole" (post war)

in fact it is of the conical type with a large hole and without circumference step, it resembles much to the postwar, but in reality according to my experience is a model also used on war time examples.
The pre-war light gray-green paint, and the general condition makes me think it has not been used in combat; in fact with the beginning of the war, since June 1940, for reasons of camouflage all the M33 were repainted in dark gray-green.
The flash belongs to the 18th Artillery Reg."Gran Sasso" of the 24th Division "Pinerolo", and during WW2 it was deployed in the South France (1940) and then on Greek-Albanian Front (1941), where it remained until the Armistice (1943).
On the flash originality it is really difficult to give a definitive opinion without looking closely at the real object, anyway an very interesting example.

Regards
Roberto

[real steel]

Thank you. Great detailed information you have shared with me.
These are not my field of collecting. I just wanted one original "unmessed" with pre-war or wartime example.

Thanks again, David