German M35 helmet : original ?

[Polakldb]

Hello everyone,

I am in possesion of a ww2 german helmet but i'm not entirely sure it's 100% original ( pictures below )

It's an M35 and it seems to have two layers of paint on it, one decal is apparent on the outside paint but we can see that on the other side another " shield decal " is visible trough the cracks in the outside layer of paint. The chinstrap is dated 1937 and the aluminum liner 1938. The guy from who i got it said it was from the battle of the bulge and that it had been resting upside down in a basement ( which could explain why the interior has almost no paint left )
Also, it's marked ET64 and 3645.

I'm just wondering if it's indeed an original helmet with original paint and liner and also how much do you think it's worth.

Thank you for your time !

-Polak

[Schwerpunkt]

On the outside a very good looking reissue helmet. The inside , someone horribly treated the liner. Too bad.

[MAP]

Looks like this one was out in the elements or ground dug and someone tried to restore the leather as Frank said.

[Danmark]

I see you have your location as Bastogne. Did it come from a local house 'basement'? If you can indeed prove its provenance that would make it more than just another tired helmet.

[Polakldb]

Thank you to all of you who answered my questions,

Indeed the leather seems to have been put with replica pins after it was (sadly) treated, the pins of the shell however look original and untouched, just like the aluminum liner.

For those who are wondering this helmet came from Mande St-etienne, a small localisation about a kilometer west of bastogne, the old guy who had it said he got it when he was a child from a pile of dead german soldiers who were laying along the road... he played a lot with it when young and maybe it’s him who badly treated the liner.

The dead germans were either from the führer begleit brigade, the 3rd panzergrenadier, or the 26th volksgrenadier ( from my research )