wz.31 Polish Army Helmet - 100% genuine ?

**A.J. Zawadzki** · 12-11-2009, 01:44 AM

The gavel drops and the closing price on this one listed on Allegro is just over $1600 USD. This is consistent now over the past year which includes the recent example located in Italy (mentioned earlier in this thread) and also a couple of others. Market values for wz.31s in top condition have more than doubled in three years.

Dziewicza Salamandra wz31 ! Stan kolekcjonerski (840282519) - Aukcje internetowe Allegro

Regards,
T.

**tommyz** · 12-14-2009, 04:25 PM

Hello,

I wanted to charm in and post my new w.31 helmet that I picked up from eBay Italy. I did have a couple of questions... First, on the inside the helmet is marked with Ludwikow 46 37. I understand that the 37 is the year of production, but what does the 46 represent? The number 46 is also stamped on the inside in front, on the visor part of the helmet...what is this? The helmet is complete and in overall good condition, but it does have some strange damage mainly above the metal part of the liner. Could have this been some strange reaction of the metal and soldiers sweat? The liner looks to be original to the helmet, but I have a feeling that the liner was removed at some point to clean the area around the liner. The helmet was owned by a gentleman in Italy since 1986 when he bought it at a flea market in Wien, Austria. I will post photos later today.

**tommyz** · 12-15-2009, 01:08 AM

Here are the photos...

**3mk** · 12-15-2009, 01:19 AM

Hello Tommyz and welcome to the forum,I think the 46 represents the batch numbers,It looks overall like a nice honest example of a wz 31 helmet which was probably brought back as ``war booty`` from the September Campaign.

**A.J. Zawadzki** · 12-15-2009, 02:42 AM

Hello Tommy,

This same helmet was discussed earlier in this thread (post #8). Congratulations on wining a very nice survivor! Ones this nice are few and far between.

As Emil stated, the “46” represents the production lot number.

I’ve seen the same strange corrosion on other original wz.31 helmets. It’s hard to say what the cause is. It could possibly be from sweat or other environmental factors that promoted some sort of galvanic action between the liner band and the shell.

by tommyz

. . . I have a feeling that the liner was removed at some point to clean the area around the liner.

Does it look like the metal tabs holding the liner have been bent back?

Regards,
Tony

**tommyz** · 12-15-2009, 05:46 AM

I'm very excited to own this helmet. I've been searching for a while and finally got lucky.

Tony, looking at the tabs it's difficult to say if they have been bent back. I have seen some helmets where it's vey obvious, but this one I'm not so sure. The only thing that I see is that the paint on top of the tab is missing, but again that could be something else. I'll take a photo of the tabs and post.

Gentlemen, thank you for your replies.

**IvanPutski** · 12-15-2009, 06:11 AM

by IvanPutski

Look also at the similarity of color and finish on the helmets in the first and third pictures. Same techniques applied, apparently....

...and here's another example of another N. Africa camo from the same seller. This one is straight 8th Army; no Polish eagle. But once again, compare the paint color and camo finish to the first and third photos referenced above. I have any number of camo helmets and overpaints from the various theaters of WW2. You just don't see such similarity from one camo helmet to another. I guess it could just be an eerie coincidence....