Norwegian MK1 post-war
After taking a couple months off from this hobby to focus on other things, I have found myself reinvigorated to jump back in feet first. The cause of this new excitement comes from a helmet I just recently got. For over a year now, I have been on the hunt for a decently priced refurbished mk2 Norwegian helmet. I don't know how easy this task may have been for others, but the area I live in is pretty much a desert when it comes to helmet hunting; this means that online sellers are pretty much my only option. And the problem with that is the majority of online dealers do not carry these Norwegian helmets. And if they do carry one, there always seems to be an issue with it. Like the liner may be worn completely out or missing a whole decal. This is understandable because of its age and I was very tempted to pick them up, but I decided to hold off--hoping that another one will pop up somewhere in better condition.
And finally, my wait has paid off-- and it paid off hugely. Not only did I find myself a Norwegian helmet, but one with both decals mostly intact, complete internals, and a nice liner that even fits my head. And here is where it becomes even more exciting! I managed to get a Norwegian refurb that was a mk1! I'll tell you why that excites me later, but without further ado, here it is. My Mk1 Norwegian post-war refurb!
As you can see, both decals are present and in not too bad of a condition.
Here, you can see the front and back of the helmet. The ripples in the steel is present and one of the indicators of a mk1.
As you can see, the internals are complete. It even has the dutch liner pad that are notoriously known for breaking apart and not being present.
Here's the stamping of the helmet's steel supplier.
And here are some close ups of the decals. Again, they ain't too shabby and at least they are there!
Ok, now for my explanation why it being a mk1 excites me. So after WW1, Norway had purchased a small number of old British helmets. These helmets were few and far between. And during the years leading up to WW2, they were being phased out and replaced by the m1931 and m1935 helmets.
However, what was cool about these Norwegian interwar mk1 helmets was that they had a Norwegian crest on the front. I can only assume the crest was similar to the ones on the m1935 helmets as seen in this thread. Helmets used by the Norwegian collaboration party Nasjonal Samling:
(I put the url because I haven't received permission from this user to use his pictures. And I want to make sure that the poster receives attention and credit.)
The reason I am unsure about how the crest would actually look is because I have not found a single modern picture nor close up of these old mk1 helmets. This leaves me to assume one of two things:
1. During the German occupation of Norway, the Germans tended to remove the crests off of the Norwegian made m1935 helmets. This makes it extremely hard to find an original helmet with the crest. I figured they also must have done the same thing to the mk1s, and since there was such a small amount of them, there's a pretty good chance they got their hands on all of them.
2. If there were any helmets that still had the crest, they may have been either refurbished after the war and lost it or maybe the helmets were scrapped for the metal.
So seeing as how I am now the proud owner of a mk1 post-war refurbished Norwegian helmet, I like to think about how there may be a very slight chance that this could be one of those original few. More than likely it isn't, but still, the thought is there!
Here's a couple of pics of some men at the Hegra Fortress with the old mk1 helmets. If you look closely, you can definitely see the crest, but the picture just isn't clear enough to make out too many details.
If you have made it this far, I applaud you! And if you see any mistakes anywhere in this reading, please point it out to me. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed.
P.S. If you happen to have some pics of the old Norwegian mk1's or anymore info, I would be very thankful if you supplied it!
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