WWI WWII german helmet

[CSW]

Not commenting on the helmet itself but I just wanted to say there is - as far as I know - still a great number of undocumented WaA codes around: I've personally stumbled across many original wartime items whose respective Waffenamts I wasn't able to find anywhere on the internet.

[Danmark]

Not commenting on the helmet itself but I just wanted to say there is - as far as I know - still a great number of undocumented WaA codes around: I've personally stumbled across many original wartime items whose respective Waffenamts I wasn't able to find anywhere on the internet.

try this site Claus Espeholt's G43 - MP44 collectors Service and in the top left of his home page there is a link to a 92 page pdf list of known Waffenamts ( best one I've seen )

That's why I said I couldn't find the WaA401 listed.
Regards, Dan

[AndyM35]

Hello, just read Andy's PM. This is just an opinion on the helmet in question and is based off from the supplied images. Parade helmets do come in cutout versions and should be mfg'd of aluminum. The vents are different from the Imperial design as well, being more of a closed format. Kinderhelms were generally produced from very light gauge steel or pressed paper. They are roughly 2/3 the size of a full size helmet intended for adult wear. The vent lugs are very different from the actual M16/17/18 helmet and for most of them they were just to mimic that part of the helmet that they were trying to copy and largely were non-functional. Decals when used on these typically are also to scale being ~2/3 size, however on some examples the actual full sized decal sets were applied (often Abels decals). Paper versions often have the insignia painted/printed on paper shields then glued to the helmet shell. Liners range from high quality leather versions almost identical to M31 combat liners (but to scale) to simple cloth to paper. The light gray finish should be studied and not passed off initially. That color was used on period helmets but to date it has been my experience to see it applied on helmets being reconditioned/formatted as reissues. If the gray paint extends to the interior of the helmet it generally extends up to the liner band and not beyond (the dome region remains the original factory color).
Looking at the helmet being discussed, it appears to be a full sized helm. The cutout areas are missing the flared out geometry which is of concern. It's interesting that you're saying this is a size 66 shell. The stepped vent format appearing on that shell is characteristic of a size 64 shell. The gray paint appears to have been applied throughout the entire helmet and application appears to have been done w/o the leather pads installed (pads missing). The paint appears to exhibit heat damage (bubbling) particularly in the region of the Army decal and left vent. Rather than actual wear expected across the shell the wear appears engineered at areas where that would be expected to occur (rivet locations/rim/vent/etc). The decals themselves appear to be acrylic based and not cellulose as the period decal would be in material of construction. They also appear to have more of a matte quality rather than having the depth expected and seen in period decals and appear thick. As stated, this is just one opinion based on supplied images, hope that it has helped. D.

Thank you for the detailed reply Donald. Much appreciated. It certainly is an unusual helmet whatever it is.

Andy

[BBazsi]

Thanks for the help.
I do not buy it!
Lots of question marks!I don’t want to spend a lot of money on a non-100% original piece!
...thx

[PaddyD00]

As I said. Fake decals

LOL JK

Donald - great detailed information and extremely kind of you to take the time for this gentlemen. And educational for the rest of us. Thank you for taking the time.
Z

[PaddyD00]

And to Bazsi - keep looking. Plenty of good untouched helmets out there. Post here first

[herrgeezer]

Just to add... I had one of these helmets years ago and showed it to several helmet guys at the SOS. According to Bill Shea, the only original helmets in this configuration are only marked ET64 as mine was.

[BBazsi]

...thx all...Köszönöm, from Hungary!!

[Irish1965]

The silhouet like to narrow for an combat M18 ear-cutout. It also should have and ET64 factory stamping. No other sizes or manufacturers are known.

I would pass on this one.

Cheers Paul