vietnamese sun helmet

**James C** · 05-17-2015, 10:14 AM

Not ballistic i know as it's made from compressed hardboard so I'm sneaking it in as composite material but tough to find an appropriate place on the forum, in any case here it is

The previous owner acquired the helmet back in 1990 while working in central Vietnam and said it is from the early 1970's, it came from the roof space of a Vietnamese friends house,
The family were given the house by the Vietnamese government just after 1975 for service during the war. the inside shell has been repainted a light greyish colour cutting in around the label , the label has curled showing an olive green base coat underneath ,I'm still yet to fully learn the differences between this type and the earlier pavn helmets of the vietnam war period ,the chinstrap looks to be a type of leather or imitation leather and the slider buckle it at a right angle which seems to be done during manufacture and not through wear and tear ,

**HARRY THE MOLE** · 05-17-2015, 11:28 AM

A nice helmet James, although these helmets are notoriously difficult to prove to be of Vietnam war origin. The more modern one's tend to have artificial leather (or very thin) chinstraps. The one you have seems to be quite thick - usually a good sign.

The problem I have always had with these helmets is the camouflaged cover and 'net' with strips of parachute tied on. There are scores of these helmets with nets offered for sale, and they all look the same and clean too! Some years ago I had one sent over from Vietnam, and shortly afterwards, more and more popped up for sale. They seem to have a cottage industry over there churning these things out.

**James C** · 05-17-2015, 11:40 AM

Hi Steve and thanks for looking

to be honest for display i added the US chute camo ,i hear what your saying though that's why i never purported it to be from the Nam War time frame and just went off the details of the seller which is all you can do really and the research on these always throws up the same results as they are post war which is fair enough ,your right ,the outer scrim and camo strips are not in keeping with the condition and age of the helmet so cant be correct and I'm sure the street vendors knock these out daily ,of course the only provenance of there authenticity is they are all made by Viet cong vets with no other source of income or so as the story goes ,I'm sure the rice bowl is definitely genuine ,It sounds positive about the thicker chinstrap though so it might corroborate what the seller told me ,cheers mate

James

**HARRY THE MOLE** · 05-17-2015, 11:45 AM

I sold a nice collection of Vietnam/Vietcong items a couple of years ago. Documents, ID cards, helmets and banners. The garden looks good - although I don't remember seeing all that!

**James C** · 05-17-2015, 11:50 AM

That's interesting to hear Steve

yes the garden I've reworked the decking around the pond slightly but from the living room its tucked away from view originally i had a huge sliding aluminium patio door but was to cold in the winter and so were replaced with French windows that are less than half the width ,i had to brick up my room view of the pond

**Mark K** · 05-17-2015, 01:11 PM

Hi James I agree with Steve there are an awfull lot of these floating around in the Market place and have considered adding one to my collection for some time but trying to proove provanance can be a nightmare.
As to your example I do rather like the looks of it as it does not seem to fall in to the same class as the other examples I see being sold and would display it with out the parachute silk and or the net .

Regards Mark

**James C** · 05-17-2015, 01:32 PM

Hi Mark and thanks for your thoughts mate

i didn't go out purposely looking for a Vietnam war period helmet but on the other hand i didn't want one made last week so I'm happy just to have and example of this style from the 70's ,I've heard the latter one's perhaps on purpose to age when faded have a sheen due to the more modern material used for the outer covering, i agree it does look pretty good bare

thanks James

**James C** · 05-17-2015, 01:33 PM

I didn't pay a huge amount either

**Mark K** · 05-17-2015, 01:53 PM

James I would happily display this one in my collection at the very least it is a very good representation

I have a friend on the Island that is a Australian Vietnam Vet that immigrated to Canada and he has one that he brought home with him that he proudly displays in his Den.
I will see if he will allow me to take a few pics when I go home it is very stained and weathered and with out a doubt looks to have been field worn.

Regards Mark