Lot of nine M1 shells

[Twthmoses]

Picked up a lot of nine M1 shells and a single liner yesterday. Did not want the rest liners, as they was just standard mid-late M/58 Danish liners.
It was four original US shells, two Diaward shells, two LS shells and a single VDN shell. In addition, a US Firestone liner. All of these are Danish M/48 helmets.

A Schlueter 248A, movable bails, front seam. Retains its sand finish under two layers of paint. The 60s dark green, with the light 1948 green under, and the original US under that.


A McCord 163A, fixed bails, front seam. Repainted in the early 1970s. This green is called SK/80 Danish Army green, and was used on a lot of equipment during the 1970s and 1980s. Has a very crisp cork finish on the lower half of the shell.


A McCord 95B, fixed bails, front seam. This one has no cork or sand finish, but is SK/80 color, which means it, must have been sandblasted in early 1970, prior to painting.


A McCord 732C, fixed & movable bail! front seam. Like the above no cork or sand finish, so a sandblasted version. More interesting this one has a fixed bail on one side and movable bail on the other! Neither looking like a fix!





Two Diaward Steel Works shells from 1952. One pretty normal, the other repainted with SK/80 and with a repaired bail (looks like a bail from a 1957 LS shell), rather rough repair.




Two LS shells. Normal color, but with reverse bails compared to earlier shells. Somewhere between 1970 and 1980 LS reversed the bails on the shells, from original Euro style (reversed) to US style. These two shells have the stamp LS 85 7 and LS 82 8 184. I’m unsure what that 184 in the end means? The last I found had stamped an even longer LS 82 3L 8408 ? Pretty sure its year and month, but the rest I don’t know.




And finally a VDN shell. Normal color and a stamped VDN 90/1. Took it mainly because I’m pretty sure these are that very last M1 helmets purchased by the Danish military / civil defense. Denmark brought VDN shells in the 1970s too. These are slightly magnitic, while these 89-90 VDN shells are not.

[Steve27752]

A very nice pick up and an instant collection.

[Twthmoses]

Thanks! I am sure it is (a collection), unfortunately, I am not a collector, at least I do not describe myself as such. I am in the business of collecting information. Sure, I own 50+ M1 helmets, but they are just in a state of waiting to be “swapped”. I am not hunting the perfect ww2 M1 helmet with perfect provenance – sure, I appreciated such a helmet as any other-, I am hunting the odd M1 helmet (or clone), that does not look like the others, in every aspect – and I might not even keep that.

Two times, I have had a WW2 Parish Pressed Steel Company shell in my hands and did not get it. Only one time I have had a D-bail (M2) shell in my hand, and did not get that either! Both long time ago… That is why I know Denmark received all kinds of US helmets when that purchased their first batch in Dec 1949 from surplus depots in Germany. I am looking for the odd helmets, just for info and photos, not for a collection.

In November 1963, Forsvarets Intendanturkorps (literally Army catering Corps) made the first public auction, which included M1 helmets. They sold all kind of stuff, but this is the first time I have seen M1 helmets sold. Remember this is only 15 years are the introduction of the M1 helmet I Denmark. In the city of Randers, at that time Randers barracks existed (home of Jydske Dragonregiment) they sold 1683 M1 helmets at 15 øre a piece (about 3 cents). This was an all or nothing deal. You take all or nothing. 3 cent at that time was equal of the metal price, so I guess I would have taken it – despite that the wife would have said, with me coming home with roughly 1700 shells – just odd chance of getting the odd shells.

Image from that auction.