My m42 helmet

[Politefaun]

Yeah that's what I was leaning towards as I'm no expert in leather repair or cleaning and wouldn't want to damage anything. Thank you for all the help!

[Politefaun]

I know this is an old thread, but with the quarantine going on I had the time to get some better pictures of this helmet and found an ink stamp on the inside of it. Also, I'm not 100% sure the black paint is post war done it looks like its got some age to it, for some reason the paint looks shinier in the photos than it does in hand.

[PotatoDigger]

I would personally say that the black on the outside is post war, but you can see the textured feldgrau beneath which is nice.
A lot of helmets were painted over in black after the war and reused by fire departments, police forces etc all over continental Europe.
And that on the liner does look like ink maybe from a pen or something, no idea how you'd best remove that..
the ink stamp in the dome is an acceptance stamp which you quite commonly see in ET/ckl helmets.
Usually reads something like " Abgenommen / Wehrmacht Bekleidungsamt für Heer und Marine / Abnahmestelle Thale H." I could be wrong, that's just from memory.
Luis

[Politefaun]

I would personally say that the black on the outside is post war, but you can see the textured feldgrau beneath which is nice.
A lot of helmets were painted over in black after the war and reused by fire departments, police forces etc all over continental Europe.
And that on the liner does look like ink maybe from a pen or something, no idea how you'd best remove that..
the ink stamp in the dome is an acceptance stamp which you quite commonly see in ET/ckl helmets.
Usually reads something like " Abgenommen / Wehrmacht Bekleidungsamt für Heer und Marine / Abnahmestelle Thale H." I could be wrong, that's just from memory.
Luis

The stamp is really faint I didn't think this helmet had one until I brought it outside yesterday into the natural light, when I brought it back inside into a bright room it wasn't visible. The liner situation ***** as it's really the only downside of the helmet, but at the end of the day it's still original even with the pen ink. I didn't know a lot of these got painted black after the war for use across Europe after the war, It's nice they left the inside (mostly) intact.

[MAP]

Well, with these new photos, yes, I can now see it has been painted black. Not something we could tell the first time around. It looked to be the dark later war feldgrau. So with the liner and black paint, most likely a post war job all around. Who? When? Why? Don't know. But the magic marker like ink in the liner leads me to strongly suspect the whole thing was done by the owner or his kid.

The ink stamp is partially covered so I cant really see the full width and it is smudged but as Luis said, it could be the stamp seen in late war Ckl helmets. I think Luis is close but think is only says in three lines:

Abgennomen
Wehrmacht - Beschaffungsamt
Bekleiduns und Ausrustung

And instead of this being in an oval, it was a trapezoid shape, which is not visible due to a light stamping.

[PotatoDigger]

Yeah, I was close, but not quite
Here's a picture of one I had on my PC
I think that's the stamp that is in there
Also MAP, you have a typo in the word "Abgenommen"
Luis

[MAP]

Yeah, I was close, but not quite
Here's a picture of one I had on my PC
I think that's the stamp that is in there
Also MAP, you have a typo in the word "Abgenommen"
Luis

Your German is better than mine!

I can not post the photo but Ken N's book has a dome stamp photo that matches the exact 3 line inscription in Steve's helmet. He also has an example like yours as well.

The only difference from Steve's helmet and the photo in Ken's book is that you can not see the exterior polygon border lines. This is due to just a light or sloppy stamping (very weak and only 2 of the 6 lines being visible in Ken's photo and all missing in Steve's helmet)

[PotatoDigger]

Your German is better than mine!

I can not post the photo but Ken N's book has a dome stamp photo that matches the exact 3 line inscription in Steve's helmet. He also has an example like yours as well.

The only difference from Steve's helmet and the photo in Ken's book is that you can not see the exterior polygon border lines. This is due to just a light or sloppy stamping (very weak and only 2 of the 6 lines being visible in Ken's photo and all missing in Steve's helmet)

It better be, I am from the place after all

Ah, yes I forgot that type of dome stamp also existed. Maybe a very shallow print (letters not very embossed) on the stamp or very soft rubber because of material shortages that results in the trapezoidal shape sometimes showing.
Luis