French flee market M42, new collector.

[JoelFurrer]

Hello all, I'm new here. I was browsing the local flee market here in my temporary home of Dijon, France when I came across this helmet. I inquired, and the two ladies selling it wanted 120 euros for it. Now I've always been more on the firearms side of collecting, but I've seen stahlhelms on places like simpsonltd.com (great place, btw) so I knew that they could go for a lot more. I went home and double checked prices and ran back as fast as I could. The ladies and I were both happy. The price tag on the inside says that the helmet was obtained after the war in Norway. The liner is stamped with a very faint 60, which from what I read would mean that it is the smallest size. That would make sense, its a fairly small helmet. The side of the interior is stamped "79" and something else that I can't make out. The back interior is stamped "257".

The questions that I have are in regards to the decals. From what I've gathered browsing here an M42 shouldn't have 2 decals. Also, as you can see in the photos, there appears to be a prior marking with what appears to be a lion/monster with a long tail, and a crown above the shield. Now I couldn't find any markings similar to this, and I have no idea what monarchy would have used M42s. The best guess that I have, if not a fake, is that it was originally a foreign order that the Germans took over/seized. They then would have covered the first markings with their own, and may have used the 2 decals to cover both sides. If you look closely, you can see that a different shade of green paint was used to paint over the tip of the crown that peaked out above the tricolor shield.

Thank you for any information that you can provide.

Joel

[Neil Hever]

This helmet looks to be a re-issue to the Norwegian Army with replacement liner and German decals added post war. Sadly, the Norwegian decals are badly scraped up. IMO it would be better as a Norwegian marked helmet. NH

[John Brandon]

Hi and welcome, indeed you are correct when you say M42's shouldn't be DD, that is because the helmet you have is Norwegian. you can see the lion under one of the decals. 120 euros is about right for one of these, although a few years ago, you couldn't give them away

[Finnlander]

Hello.

It is a genuine WW2 German helmet that was with German occupying force in Norway during the war. When the war ended Norwegians reissued those helmets to their own troops after repainting and dying the liner. The German decals on it are fake and under them are the postwar Norwegian decals.

Edit: Too slow...

[Neil Hever]

Here is a photo of an unmolested decal on a Norwegian re-issue with the crown you mentioned. NH

[JoelFurrer]

Wow thanks for the quick response. So what are my options here, it is possible to take off the fake decals without damaging the Norwegians underneath?

[timothy]

Norweign rework hold on to it they are getting harder to find especially with decal even if that one is a partial looks like ET make. timothy

[JoelFurrer]

Where could I find more information about the Norwegian reworks? Is the paint original, or did the Norwegians repaint them as well?

[timothy]

Somewhere or maybe here was posted some good information on the Norweign reworks they were repainted by the Norweigns that light green as yours shows, redecaled, and the liners were dyed brick red such as your example that is one of the main indicators of Norweign use I have owned several of them in the past but unfortunately didn't keep any. Most all of the ones I owned had the original german liners still in them just dyed and I had one that had a original chinstrap (German) most do not as that piece was replaced also. Yours is a decaled example and I only owned one out of about six that had Norweign decals you could buy these in the late 70's here in the states for a whole twenty five dollars later on they began to repaint and redecal them and sell them as German WW2 (restored) places like Unique Imports in Virginia had adds for them all the time. timothy

[Celtic]

This helmet looks to be a re-issue to the Norwegian Army with replacement liner and German decals added post war.

+1

looks like ET maker.

it is indeed!