Need Opinions on this M35

[Poody]

Hey guys I already posted a thread about this helmet but this one has much better pictures of it. I am looking to get a second opinion on this.

Thanks for looking!
Poody

[Nathan362]

Looks like legit paint. Its in very rough shape though. I still like it, and think it makes a good starter camo. I would have bought it for the right price!

[Lidman]

After looking over the photos (for a while I might add), I am on the fence with this one.
The liner is certainly legit, and belongs to the helmet.
The paint appears to be period, although the lighting and use of flash makes it difficult to be sure.
My issue is with what appears to be fresh rust in some areas, and although I assume the damage to the paint
may be from some form of chemical spill, I see what appears to be tool scrape marks around and just behind the right
hand rivet.
Maybe some of the other guys have a better idea of what might have happened here.

Brad.

[ObKrieger]

Looks good to me!

Looks even better on my shelf!

[DougB]

I see what Lidman is saying about the paint. That said with the pics its hard to say if the camo is messed with or what but for sure there was some sort of caustic reaction causing the large area on the RF of the helmet to be damaged like that.

The personalization looks legit, for interests sake here are the units Obergefreiter Senf potentially belonged to:

1.9.1939-1.1.1940 2. Kompanie Panzerabwehr-Abteilung 34.
28.4.1940-14.9.1940 2. Kompanie Panzerjäger-Abteilung 34.
15.7.1942-24.1.1943 5. Panzerjäger-Kompanie Jagd-Bataillon 1, dann 5. Panzerjäger-Kompanie Jäger-Bataillon 1, dann 2. Kompanie Panzerjäger-Abteilung 34,
3.11.1943 nicht verwendet
9.11.1944 Regimentsstab, Stabs- und 13.-14. Kompanie Grenadier-Regiment 456.



Verwendungszeit: 1.9.1939 bis 21.5.1945

[slados28]

Apart from the exterior rust issue I really like it --- nice and untouched camo imo, love the personalization!

[ObKrieger]

Doug, the FPN has an 'L' prefix, though. Also, the paint underneath the camo is a nice, dark, smooth SE Luftwaffe M35 blue. Shouldn't he have belonged to a LW unit?

[DougB]

Doug, the FPN has an 'L' prefix, though. Also, the paint underneath the camo is a nice, dark, smooth SE Luftwaffe M35 blue. Shouldn't he have belonged to a LW unit?

When you put a prefix in front of a FP number you do not get a response. I know what the suffixes stand for. I do not know what the L Prefix stands for however.

[ObKrieger]

So I looked over it again and I am almost positive the FPN is actually L 12958, not L 12458. Also, this helmet was found in an attic here in the U.S. so it was presumably a veteran bringback. The unit for L 12958:

Feldpostnummer 12958

(Mobilmachung-1.1.1940) Stab Reserve-Flak-Abteilung 701,
(27.1.1942-14.7.1942) Stab schwere Flak-Abteilung 701,
(1.8.1943-23.3.1944) 11.9.1943 Stab schwere Flak-Abteilung 701 (o).

This makes much more sense because it is a Luftwaffe helmet, and this unit spent the entire war in Ludwigshafen, Germany, which was taken by the U.S. 12th Armored and 94th Infantry Divisions from 21-24 March, 1945. Grenadier-Regiment 456 was destroyed in Vitebsk along with the rest of Heersgruppe Mitte in 1944, so it doesn't really make much sense for a helmet from that unit to find its way to the U.S.

[DougB]

awesome work and yes that makes more sense! I was thinking the same thing about GR456 myself as I looked up the unit history and thought the helmet might be coming from Eastern Europe.