ODD Camo cover on this Helmet

[theduke635]

Why is Wanke a clue that this a bad helmet? its a common name in Germany and austria one of my good friends last name as a matter of fact .. After reading a lot of these threads I 'm wondering if the Germans even really had helmets! they all seem to be fake !

[Walkwolf]

Why is Wanke a clue that this a bad helmet? its a common name in Germany and austria one of my good friends last name as a matter of fact .. After reading a lot of these threads I 'm wondering if the Germans even really had helmets! they all seem to be fake !

Most of the helmets seen on the Forum are/were actually good original shells,
but a lot which are embellished with wire, camo paint, SS decals, etc,
have been faked...........!

[davejb]

, I agree with steve here, were not saying the helmet is a fake, ie the shell but the embellishment looks to far from the norm, plus E-bay is notorious for allowing fake items of militaria through their site, with this kind of representation its all too easy to yank the price up on an otherwise normal helmet, i for one do not believe its original, in 45yrs of collecting helmets of all descriptions i have never seen one like this, but you seem to be without doubt regarding this, you asked for opinions, we gave them, but you seem to be defending this helmet, and i am wondering why so adamant about its originality

[militarymania]

i definitely would pass on this "WANKER" of a helmet,,,

[helmet2id]

I have been collecting helmets for 48 years in one way or another, and more than the last 20 in earnest. When I first looked at the helmet in the link provided in the first post it screamed fake to me. I am not, however, an expert by any stretch of the imagination, just someone who has see and handled thousands of German helmets (many thousands). I have been wrong about helmets many times, and so my opinion is just that, the opinion of one person. The helmet, if an original SS camo as suggested by the seller, would be a one of a kind, and as others have said, its value would be in the order on tens of thousands of dollars, not a mere $1600. On ebay, the market is the entire world, and not a single one of us with this weird obsession with military head gear bid on it. Now, that should tell you something. Just my 2 cents. Jim G.

[helmet2id]

I just looked at the pictures again, and the helmet under the "camo cloth" may have been a double decal luft, as the red that the seller mentions appears to be the bottom of a tricolor on the right side of the piece, and in some of the interior shots the paint appears to be luft blue grey, while in others the paint seems to be green. The liner is okay. The writing on the skirt probably could be researched to see if it is a correct LW unit designation, but to me, it isn't worth the time. I just checked an available database, and the lot # is very close to the Q lot # of an M35 that was a double decal Luft. The helmet is definitely NOT SS, and the cloth is not, in my opinion, period applied. The cloth is what turned me off to the helmet at first blush, and my opinion about the helmet has not changed. It is not any type of period camo cloth of which I am aware, and why a soldier would paint a camo pattern and not use abundantly available camo material makes no sense. Its presence on the helmet kills the helmet's value in my opinion. Why it was applied is anyone's guess. Possibly a reenactor? Maybe the decals were damaged, and the cloth put on by a collector to enhance the value of a helmet not worth more than a few hundred dollars otherwise. It is, simply, a helmet that I would avoid. Jim G.

[SteveR]

This whole thread is a waist of bamd width without photos.
SteveR

[NickD]

This whole thread is a waist of bamd width without photos.
SteveR

here ya go

[theduke635]

For the record I am not defending this helmet and claiming it to be 100% I am just saying. "Why not?" I see all the points given and I think they are valid points .. My point is that this could be a period helmet the solider who owned this helmet may have made this cover just for the hell of it . As I stated before this cover looks HAND PAINTED to me and that tells me that this could very well a one of a kind. Is it real war time ? I have no idea! but why be so quick to judge this? We as collectors know what this stuff is worth ..Maybe the guy selling this is not a collector and has no clue to the real value and someone just told him its worth $1600 to try and get it from him cheap .I bought a truck load of M1928 haversacks and medical packs and WW2 flight pants and jackets for $40 and that stuff is worth way more then that ...Just a thought

[Paul D]

For the record I am not defending this helmet and claiming it to be 100% I am just saying. "Why not?" I see all the points given and I think they are valid points .. My point is that this could be a period helmet the solider who owned this helmet may have made this cover just for the hell of it . As I stated before this cover looks HAND PAINTED to me and that tells me that this could very well a one of a kind. Is it real war time ? I have no idea! but why be so quick to judge this? We as collectors know what this stuff is worth ..Maybe the guy selling this is not a collector and has no clue to the real value and someone just told him its worth $1600 to try and get it from him cheap .I bought a truck load of M1928 haversacks and medical packs and WW2 flight pants and jackets for $40 and that stuff is worth way more then that ...Just a thought

Well i think we've given opinions as to why this cover is not period or period applied and nobody has been quick to judge it only given their opinion , it looks like it was painted a week ago not 70 years ago but maybe it was never used in combat and has been stored carefully , would i buy it....... no , but someone else may think it's worth a punt at $!600 but not anyone here !!

I'm aware that Wanke is a German surname but it has a different meaning in the English langauge , one which may be more relevant to this particular helmet cover !!!!