My M16 Camo Stahlhelm.

[sysyphus]

These Vickers are desirable in their own right. Silly to add a fake camo to an original example. There are so few of them left.

correct!
a very stupid action

[ShapedSteel]

Hello everyone,

Thank you all so much for helping me find the true identity of this helmet! I really mean it.
And a special thanks to ''sysyphus'' for finding the smoking gun (but each and everyone of you helped finding it, of course).

I'm of course a bit disappointed as I am working on a nice display case with WW1 German items, but on the other hand I was planning on hunting down a Vickers Stahlhelm at some point anyways so I'm still happy with it (and I paid around the same price these go for anyways, even when painted over.)

I feel kind of stupid as well now, haha. Because now that I'm comparing the two helmets it's really obvious that it's a Vicker's model ( A facepalm icon here would have been very fitting )
I want to get it restored, are there any tips on how to do it or would you recommend me finding a pro to do it for me? And do you guys think that the original paint is still underneath it?

Again thank you all for solving this mystery,
I do wonder about the story of this helmet
As the seller acquired it from a Belgian farmer. Could it have been painted by someone trying to sell it as a war souvenir somewhere in the 20's or 30's? Or is the paint too new for that?
I guess that we'll never now for sure.

Thank you all!

[MAP]

This is probably not too much help, but here is my restored Vickers. I left it "as is" given that the person who did restore it did a decent job.

A hard to find helmet. I got mine basically to show the evolution of the Stahlhelm...

Irish M1927 Helmet

[Martin C]

Thought that i would post a few images of my unrestored Vickers for comparison.


Take care and have a good day!


Mart

[AndyM35]

I would not feel too bad ShapedSteel. This one really was made to deceive. As you can see from both MAP and Martins examples there was a badge mounted on the front and the liner rivets are completely different. It’s now obvious that these holes were filled and covered with paint and the rivets changed.

Next time you see a WW1 camo make sure to post it here prior to purchase for an appraisal. There are still lots of good ones out there and some in collections going back on the market all the time.

Andrew

[ShapedSteel]

I would not feel too bad ShapedSteel. This one really was made to deceive. As you can see from both MAP and Martins examples there was a badge mounted on the front and the liner rivets are completely different. It’s now obvious that these holes were filled and covered with paint and the rivets changed.

Next time you see a WW1 camo make sure to post it here prior to purchase for an appraisal. There are still lots of good ones out there and some in collections going back on the market all the time.

Andrew

Yeah, someone very talented worked on this one. I hope that I'll find a good one in the near future, I really love the WW1 German helmet models.
And yes, when I make another expensive purchase I'll be sure to post it here first, I'm really glad that there are people on here so nice to help beginners like me.
Talking of which, I finally came across a Kriegsflagge of which i'm not sure whether it's Real Or Fake, so I posted it on this forum