IDing Egyptian Helmet

[Chickenpuffball]

Hello, this is my first post on this forum, please forgive any beginner mistakes I might make.

My grandfather was given this helmet from a friend who fought in the Israeli Six Day War, my grandfather's friend took this from an Egyptian battlefield (I don't know which one). The helmet looks like a Czech Vz 32 but has a different liner and only 3 rivets. Thank you!








Czech Vz 53 (for comparison):

[Greg Pickersgill]

The shell doesn't look right in your photos, but I think the liner and strap (nb - these straps were both rivetted and sewn) are those from a Polish wz.50. The shell doesn't have the sort of edging common to all the Eastern European Russian-influenced helmets - looks more like a British armoured troops shell from the photos. That's can't be right surely. The Polish liner is a 3-rivet fixing system so that's normal. It also does look very clean and fresh for a battlefield pickup. On the basis of the photos I'd say so far its a Polish liner and strap in a different shell - possibly a British one.

[James C]

Welcome to the forum Chicken puff ball Well the history of this interesting helmet sounds plausible enough.The shell exterior certainly is showing heavy use and a paint scheme you would expect to find from a middle east bring back ,the liner is in very good condition but has seen usage judging by the penned writing and I'm agreeing with Greg with Polish Wz 50 ,I'm confident that this is/was a complete Wz 50 but having been cut down I am basing this on the visible raw edge also the inner paintwork looks correct and the external Rivits appear to be as expected for this model type
I would like to see in closer detail the writing on the liner to see if we can decide if either Hebrew or Arabic and i would also like for you if possible to open up the liner more and take a close up picture of the inner crown as most have there date of original manufacture ink stamp there also could you take more detailed pictures of the liner terminations to see if modified to another shell type or just to confirm for certain its originality
regards James

[Chickenpuffball]

Thank you! The helmet's been lying on a shelf with no contact for the last 50 years, that explains the condition. The shell also looks low cut like a paratroopers helmet.

[Chickenpuffball]

Thanks! The writing is in Arabic (I read Hebrew) but unfortunately has been smudged by use.

Sweat/blood (proving it's originality):

[Tinhat]

Very interesting, the stamps inside the helmet confirm I believe it is a Polish Wz50 that has been cut down. The big question is who did the cut down, whether it was exported that way, the Egyptians did it or even post war Israeli mod.

Has anybody heard of a variant of the Wz50, I haven't.

It's difficult to see from the last picture, does the edge have have the same green paint as the inside of the shell.

Even with all the ambiguity there is no question in my mind it is period and I have to say I would love to have that in my collection.
Steve.

[Chickenpuffball]

Very interesting, the stamps inside the helmet confirm I believe it is a Polish Wz50 that has been cut down. The big question is who did the cut down, whether it was exported that way, the Egyptians did it or even post war Israeli mod.

Has anybody heard of a variant of the Wz50, I haven't.

It's difficult to see from the last picture, does the edge have have the same green paint as the inside of the shell.

Even with all the ambiguity there is no question in my mind it is period and I have to say I would love to have that in my collection.
Steve.

The edge is the same color of the shell. It might have been painted after it was cut down.

[Greg Pickersgill]

I certainly do not know of any production variant of the wz.50 that looks even remotely like this shell. We might assume it may be a one-off modification.

[Composite]

Well, unless someone broke in, trimmed the rim and snuck out again..the mod seems to be at least 50 years old...I'm assuming that Mr Puff Ball (welcome by the way) has good enough hearing to have detected breaking and entering and metal sawing..... If the back-story is true we've got ourselves a one-off mod which I quite like.

But why do it????????

[Chickenpuffball]

I certainly do not know of any production variant of the wz.50 that looks even remotely like this shell. We might assume it may be a one-off modification.

The edge is smoothed so it might have been factory. Although I've never seen this before either.