Need help! M18 helmet okay?

[Kasper]

Hello,

I want to ask you for your help.
I would like to try to get this M18 helmet but I don`t know if it is okay or not.
Specialy the painted decal in white / green gives me some doubts as the liner conditon as well.
Any thoughts?
If the M18 would be okay, what would be a feasable price for it?

[AndyM35]

It’s a nice little Si shell and appears perhaps to have been cleaned on the outside. Named and with and AK inspection stamp and size stamps, all nice little features. Unfortunately, the liner and chinstrap are post war replacements. Regarding the painted shield, it is not something that would have been on the helmet during WW1 as it would have drawn too much attention to the wearer. Looks to be something more post war i.e. Freikorps/Reichswehr etc (not my area) and these are very hard to verify as they are hand painted and don’t fall under any strict guidelines like say a WW2 decal for example. These are often painted to increase the value of the helmet etc. A hi res closeup may give a better idea of when the paint was applied.

We don’t provide price guides on the forum as prices can be very subjective, but my advice would be to look on dealer sites or eBay and see what the going rate is for clean and original WW1 shells and work off that.

Andy

[Mordecai]

The painted decal is for Lübeck I believe. I am not the best with decals or painted decals but I think it looks good comparing it to the wear of the paint underneath. More experienced people may be better suited to comment on its authenticity. I like the AK stamp and the name! Cheers.