KM or Heer?

[PapaStalin1943]

Is this a Kriegsmarine or toned heer helmet? I will post closeups of the decal.

[MAP]

First off, good or bad, our goal is to provide our honest opinions. Sometimes this results in answers we hope not to hear.

Plus, I will defer to my more learned friends who have a much keener eye them myself when it comes to decals.

Can you tell us who the maker of the helmet is? ET? SE, NS, EF, Q? And the lot #. KM's were only factory made by ET, EF and Q and SE (both of these last two only for 1 year according to Ken's helmet decal book and all SE helmets were M35 shells).

Hard to tell much from these photos. But a few tentative observations.

First, I "think" I see two layers of green paint with the decal being OVER the second layer of green. Or it could be just a layer of varnish?? But if paint, the decals should only be over the first original layer of paint (again, according to Ken's book, there are no observed examples of "re-issued" KM helmets.

Second (and I'm less sure about this), it appears that this helmet has been scrubbed as I see what appears to be bits of black paint here and there. Maybe someone removed the post war black paint (what we call scrubbed).

Finally, the decal is very poorly defined. Not sure if this is due to a scrub or the varnish or just a fake. It is all fuzzy/blurry and making it impossible for me to determine if the decal is even original or not. But I do not see the "two layer" effect typical with most KM decals

If original, I'm still leaning towards this being a toned Heer.

Let's see what others have to say. There is a lot going on with this helmet so don't just count on my opinion.

[PapaStalin1943]

Thanks for the feedback. I will look right now to see the maker and the #.

[PapaStalin1943]

Good news! The maker’s mark is labeled EF (EF66 to be exact). Also, the number is 21975. I will post some pictures down below.

[PapaStalin1943]

Is there any way I could track information of this helmet from the serial number?

[real steel]

Is there any way I could track information of this helmet from the serial number?

Take a look at "germanhelmetvault". It explains lot#. Also shows what to look for in various decals.
D.

[MAP]

Also this link should help as well

Toned Heer or KM M40 Helmet

In post 12, it is definitely not the thin wing (3rd photo). And it does not appear to be the second photo.

Still the decal is so blurry. It is hard for me to draw anymore conclusions

[real steel]

Same here. Too blurry. One cannot decipher the decal due to the damage...but my initial thoughts are it's not an HJK navy decal which is what should be on an EF helmet if one thinks it's KM

[MAP]

David, I agree on multiple points. From what I can see, graphically, this is not a KM "thin wing" or "two Layer" HJK

Further it is too difficult to make a decision on even the originality of the decal due to the damage/scrubbing. But I have looked in detail at a couple of attributes that I can see in conjunction with other attributes (shape of wing tips, shadow location on swastika, etc.). None of which match up to any known factory Heer decal used on an EF (Pocher, Juttner, or HJK) nor re-issue decals (Methner & Burger, Strache, Peiniger or Juttner)

Could just my eyes playing tricks on me.

PapaStalin: I hate to say it, but my view, absent clear photos (which I think is impossible given the condition of the decal) is that this decal is a fake. You add this too the rest of the concerns I noted on the helmet and it appears that this is all put together to deceive.

[FALLSCHIRMJAGER]

Hi, well i cannot tell you what the decal is as it is to damaged, i will say that the liner pins appear to be a different paint finish to the steel, so for me it looks like a replacement liner has been dropped in at best. Leon.