Just picked up another German helmet for the collection. This one has been left relatively untouched in the post war period..... except for the decal. This helmet arrived to me with the decal neatly painted over in white paint.
A number of different reasons popped into my head as to why this was done. My first thought is that this was done by the veteran who brought this back. I’ve heard stories in the past about how some vets let their kids play with their more harmless bring backs. I could definitely see a father painting over this decal prior to giving it to his son to play with. I’m sure neighbors would raise an eyebrow if they saw a young boy running around with a German helmet that had a swastika on it.
But in the end I suppose a number of different reason could be behind the decal being painted over. Perhaps it was used as a prop in some play? Or maybe a biker wore it back in the 60/70s?
Nevertheless, the paint certainly bothered me covering up the Luftwaffe decal below. I spent a good hour today carefully removing the white paint from the decal. The end product turned out quite nice in my opinion.
Interestingly the original paint on this helmet looks like a textured type. You can really see it on the visor section. The liner band is present, but the leather itself is long gone.
Just thought you guys would enjoy seeing this decal see the light of day again.
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