Finnish German Helmet WW2 or Post War?

[Friedland]

During a recent trip to Helsinki I came across a militaria shop near the Military Museum. The guy had three wooden crates. One full of Finnish German style helmets, another full of deactivated Russian Machine guns and lastly one full of Finnish sub-machine guns. I'll post photos of the latter two, but I ended up buying one of the helmets. At 75 Euros each (roughly £68 sterling) I thought it worth the effort and at the very least would look nice on top of my bookshelf.

99% of them were fully repainted and had brand new liners, but I picked out one (the only one I could see) that was painted a darker olive colour, had a few dents and an older lining. I've included the photos here just in case anyone can give a bit of background history to it?

[Friedland]

The crates of Finnish and Russian deactivated guns. Plus a price guide. You can view the guy's shop details are here: finnenterprise

[Frundsberg]

These prices are way too high. 625 euro for a DP28 - in Germany prices are around 300 euro.

[davejb]

Hava a look at what they're charging for replica samurai swords as well, but you do get a free shovel and helmet with every gun bought, what an outright con

[Friedland]

Frundsburg.

No idea about the gun prices, as I would have had difficulty taking it back through customs anyway (or sending it through the mail). I guess it generally seems to be the case that if you purchase anything in Finland it's twice the price of everywhere else! (even if you're buying firearms or a cup of coffee).

My assumption about the helmet I purchased is that it's probably German WW2 made, but repainted (twice by looks of it - once in a lighter green then later in olive) and the new lining fitted. The guy who owned the store said he thought the replacement lining may date from around 1955.

Any info more info on that would be appreciated.

[KradSpam]

Any markings in the shell around the edge?

[Friedland]

Any markings in the shell around the edge?

None that I can see.

[Greg Pickersgill]

Well, its definately a Finnish lining, what's often referred to as a 'depot liner', meaning that there are a number of variants depending on where and when they were done. Harder to tell about the shell - it could be WW2 or equally it could have been made and exported from West Germany after the war (mid 50s), in which case it would have arrived as a shell only and been lined in Finland; the WW2 leftover got replacement liners as-and-when.

Have a look here for what may be more useful knowledge - Helmet models used by Finnish army - and here too - Finlandia modelos extranjeros - about three-quarters the way down you will see a helmet with a liner virtually identical to yours, which is reported as being a post-war import with a Finnish liner. Of course its not inconcievable that a WW2 leftover could have been refurbished with exactly the same type of liner. Finnish helmets are a maze of detail. Can't say I understand them really!

[KradSpam]

I had a feeling it was an early postwar BGS helmet based on some subtleties of the shape. If there are no markings then I'd say that is the case.

[Greg Pickersgill]

Could be right, Kradspam. If we take a look at El Jefe here - ALEMÁN 35 - there's a great similarity. So it could have been shipped with that lining as made for the BGS. But what about those replacement rivets?! It would never have come out of a West German factory with those.

Can you give a clue as to the "subtleties of the shape" that you're picking up on? The only one I think I know (and I'm not even 100% certain it is really true) is that the postwar helmets have a 'wider flatter' profile to the embossed vents than the wartime manufatcure. I know just the bare minmum about Third Reich helmets even though I am a bit of a fan of the BGS and Bundeswehr successors) so I am keen to learn.