can anyone help with this one? Italian m33
Hi everyone, and sorry for the poor quality pics. as my camera is FUBAR at the mo, so ive had to use my phone.
Am I right in thinking this is a Italian helmet post ww2?
or is it a ww2 lid with a replacement liner??
Im a bit confused as I thought post ww2 straps where webbing instead of leather.
anyway he it is!
Neither. Its a Bulgarian M51/72 (which differs from the original M51 only in detail). And yes, it does look a lot like an Italian M33. See here .: World War Helmets - Casque Modèle 51 :. for more than you think you want to know.
Also, somewhere here (in this forum I mean) you will find a piece I copied from an Italian collector outlining the real differences between the Italian M33 pre/during/post WW2.
And you are right - the postwar-made or refurbished Italian m33 does have webbing straps.
Late news! The above-mentioned piece from Italian collector Michele Tagliavini is included in my posting here - Italian M33 Helmet
Last edited by Greg Pickersgill; 01-17-2014 at 06:36 PM.
Amazing, thanks Greg, you are a star!
that explains my complete confusion.
many many thanks.
You are far from being the first person to be fooled by this almost perfect copy of the Italian original. I'm still confused by the Bulgarians choice to copy the Italian M33. Just doesn't compute.
well it means ive overpaid again!!
That happens, unfortunately.
As a funny coincidence, I just yesterday received one of these in the mail exactly like yours, and I noticed a couple of unusual things about our helmets.
Oddly, these seem different than standard 51/72s.
The 51/72 should not have a pointed finish at the front brim-and yet, ours do. It should be round, like the 51. Build quality of this odd duck is even lower than the regular 51/72, which is saying something. Both yours and mine seem curiously off kilter, my liner is about 15 degrees off center and several degrees off level. The edges of mine are razor sharp, having never been broken off on an abrasive wheel. In addition, my whole helmet seems slightly off center, curiously out of alignment. And, like yours, it's painted deep forest green, which is not the regular army color at all, and is obviously factory fresh and was delivered in that color. Mine is allegedly a size 59 (actually marked upside-down-and-backwards two 9), but it's juuuust barely a 59, like maybe 58 1/2-and it seems many of these are actually seriously mismarked as to size, up to two or even three sizes off!
I have to say that this helmet is, without question, the lowest build quality of all of my collection. I'm going to keep it as a way to show my Bulgarian splinter helmet cover off-once I've filed the sharp edges off. I'm actually concerned it might cut the fabric.
i havent noticed the poor build quality to be honest ,my example is more an apple green but all is hidden by the cover
I used to have one and i thought it was a pretty good quality lid too!...
I have only seen a small number of these and I can't say any seemed to be noticeably poorly-manufactured. But then there's always one, isn't there.
Worth noting also that there are a number of small but notable variations of this helmet - slightly different chinstraps, liners, vent-lugs etc (at least as much variation as there is in the German M35/40/42 family ... ) I have thought (imagined?) that a complete set of known variants might run to best part of a dozen examples. If not more. Needless to say I am sorely tempted, and only the usual lack of cash prevents me from Getting The Set.
Yes, I know that the normal, run of the mill 51/72 is a fairly well put together specimen. The ones I have seen (an admittedly small sample) seemed as well put together as any com-block helmet. This one is just not the same. I wonder if this is like the Bulgy web set I bought several years ago. This was a "war reserves" type thing, extremely poorly made, flimsy, and far below the quality of normal Bulgy web gear. Perhaps this helmet came from the same "War Reserves" type thing? I'll have to post some pics up...
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