Scientific research of an alledged SS NORD helmet

[Jan]

Dear collectors,

Some months back I noticed a relic German helmet for sale on the internet. It was advertised as an "SS Nord" helmet on a well known and reliable website. Knowing that helmets of this kind are only very rarely found in Finland 70 years after WW2 I immediately contacted the seller and asked about more information regarding the area it had been found and possible information on who might have found it and in which year.

Worried that this piece of history might eventually be lost to the international collector market without a proved provenance, I contacted the seller and we managed to come up with an agreement on how to move forward in order to get the helmet to a reognised war museum in Finland. The helmet will be subject to detailed analysis during which we will try to find out as much as possible about it´s history.

The scientific work with researching this helmet has only just started. I would be very grateful if the community here would help us out on issues that might turn up during the journey. I believe crowdsourcing is an important part of WW2 conflict archaeological research. The results of this crowdsourcing will be part of my doctoral dissertation at the University of Helsinki dpts of archaeology and history.

I will post detailed pictures of the helmet in a couple of days.

Best, Jan

[HARRY THE MOLE]

Good luck with your research.

Cheers,
Steve.

[Jan]

Dear Sirs,

One thing I would like to point out at this early stage is the corrosion of the helmet shell and the effect of this continuing corrosion underneath to the already bubbling decal.

Unless we (painstakingly) glue the colour fragments of the decals to the helmet shell they probably will be lost in about fifty years time. The effect is easily visible on the SS decal where the brown rust is colouring and chipping the white of the decal. On the "Hakenkreutz" there are signs of a so called "boiling" effect possibly caused by extreme heat from the impact of the schrapnel. Also notice the reddish hue on the steel beside the decal suggesting the sherd stayed in touch with the helmet shell after impact.


Best,

Jan

[Danmark]

Once exposed to the air I would expect to see loss in a few years, not 50 .... this has happened to me. The 'craters' on the surface is where the bubbles have already flaked off. The tension of the decal film is all that is holding those bubbles in place.... a conservators nightmare to stabilise. Good luck!

[Anderson]

"there are signs of a so called "boiling" effect possibly caused by extreme heat from the impact of the schrapnel"

Are you sure about that? Could it not also be a recent decal applied then heated from underneath with a blow torch? That might also produce the bubbling effect.

[AndyM35]

Good luck with your research Jan. This promises to be an interesting thread and I look forwards to following it.

All the best,
Andy

[Schwerpunkt]

Jan , for me it is not clear what you will be actually researching ?
What makes this helmet so special ? What would you need to do with this helmet that needs crowdfunding ?

With no provenance (photographic) the story is just a story , with no identification to SS Nord other than the decal being on 'Volunteer' side it's very meagre evidence if it is even that.
I can see very thin runes which are not the kind the Germans applied , so I would say it is not a decal. Usually these things were painted on and thus would no longer look like this on a ground found shell in my opinion.

Just saying , do your homework and don't put time and money in something that may not be what it appears to be. There are many fakes unfortunately.

[real steel]

Think the runes are on the correct side. I am a bit confused also as to the purpose. But good luck with it anyway. Be glad to help if I can

[Jan]

The runes are on the correct side (on the right hand side of the helmet if worn) and for now I have no reason to believe that the helmet is a fake. If it proves to be a fake then that´s a result too.

The reason for my research is that I´m trying to trace back this helmet to the place it was found in Finland to learn more about it´s history. If it was found in the place it was reported to have been found in 2014 (by a Finnish detectorist) it might even be possible to trace the owner (if he was KIA). I´m not looking for funding only help from other people with more knowledge about helmets than I have.

The German surname on the inside of the helmet is very short and at least 4 letters of the 6 or seven in total can be read with relative ease. The helmet will be shown in an conflict archaeology exhibition in Finland in 2018. If it has a documented proven connection to Finnish Lapland it will be donated to a museum after that exhibition.

If the area were the helmet was found is correct (the starting pint of "Nords" attack towards Salla in June 1941) it would make it quite easy to narrow down the timeframe when it was discarded. What I would be very interested in at the moment are the KIA lists of SS-Inf.Rgt. 6 from the 25-28.6.1941. I will also post more pictures of the helmet as soon as I get my better camera from my workspace.

Best, Jan

[Jan]

Jan , for me it is not clear what you will be actually researching ?
What makes this helmet so special ? What would you need to do with this helmet that needs crowdfunding ?

With no provenance (photographic) the story is just a story , with no identification to SS Nord other than the decal being on 'Volunteer' side it's very meagre evidence if it is even that.
I can see very thin runes which are not the kind the Germans applied , so I would say it is not a decal. Usually these things were painted on and thus would no longer look like this on a ground found shell in my opinion.

Just saying , do your homework and don't put time and money in something that may not be what it appears to be. There are many fakes unfortunately.

Thank You very much for your input, first of all I would like to say I´m not looking for funding just crowdsourcing

The helmets provenance was indeed poor when I started out my research but it got substantially better when I got more info about the helmet through the seller. The area were the helmet was found a couple of years back correlates with my knowledege about work done by detectorists in Finnish Lapland in recent years (there are only a few out there in this particular area). Still not quite sure about the exact spot were it was found but at the moment it seems all information I have about the helmet and were it was found fit like a glove.

I have no personal interest in this helmet other than the story it tells or doesn´t tell. I feel it´s important to adress questions like this given all the possibilities laboratory tools I have as an historian and as an archaeologist. I´m also interested in the trail an item like this leaves on the Internet and what kind of emotions a find like this raises in the community both here on this forum and elsewhere.

Best, Jan