German helmet shell from WWII? Help, please.

[Srdj]

Ten years ago a friend of mine passed away and his wife gave me tons of his books and other items. This helmet shell was one of them. It screams reproduction at me and I've had it in the basement this past decade. I brought it upstairs to take some photos to ask you fine folks if you may know anything about it. Model? Original paint? I highly doubt the Luftwaffe emblem is original. Obviously somebody painted the tri-color on there.

[Nitram]

Any makers stamps or lot numbers?

Nitram

[Danmark]

Hi Srdj,

Yes, you are correct - a copy. The giveaway is that the rolled edge helmets ( Models 35 & 40 ) have different vent holes to yours. The M35 has a separate rivet and the M40 is still quite a pronounced pressing - your one has just a gentle "bulge". At least the person who did it got the decals close -the first pattern eagle WAS on early double decals.

Sadly, a nice ornament, nothing more.

Dan

[moaning minnie]

hi does'nt look impressive to me,airvents look none existent,more like someone drilled the holes,also no sign of factory stamp marks,but thats only my opinion,dave.

[davejb]

First off, is it metal, it looks fibre glass to me or at least the portion thats been filled where the damage is, try a magnet, if it is metal then its still suspect due to all the points mentioned

[Glenn66]

Old re-enactors lid I reckon.

[KradSpam]

It looks like somebody made a mould of an hkp/SE M40 and cast it in resin or fibreglass to me. The rim looks dodgy and smudged. Either that or it has been repaired with filler or something and repainted. Needless to say the decals are bad, the zigzag edges on the feather detail is a dead giveaway on the fake early Luft birds.

[Srdj]

Thanks for confirming. Time for it to be buried back in the basement!

[Srdj]

update on this repro helmet: it is now upside down and full of purple flowers in my wife's garden.

[AMTG]

Either way mate, it belonged to your friend, and a flower pot is a lovely use for it!!!