wz.31 Polish Army Helmet - 100% genuine ?

[IvanPutski]

Look also at the similarity of color and finish on the helmets in the first and third pictures. Same techniques applied, apparently....

[3mk]

I saved the pics.I think this helmet is a wz 31/50 model and was later painted and had a liner added.I think I know who made the helmet but he sells his helmets as converted wz 50`s and not originals.I think this ebay crook bought them off of him and later sold them as originals.

[A.J. Zawadzki]

I think this helmet is a wz 31/50 model and was later painted and had a liner added.

Your theory has some merits as this has been tried, although I doubt it in this case. The ink stamp is difficult to fake convincingly, and this one looks OK (despite the lack of the lot number). As mentioned, the control rivet looks a little off, but is probably OK. The 31/50 doesn’t have this marked brass rivet. Also the 31/50 has an extra pair of rivets to hold the post war liner, but come to think of it they could be hiding under that at sloppy thick coat of paint . . . ???

T.

[IvanPutski]

Here's another "interesting" SBSK helmet that appeared on the market shortly after the four in my earlier post... this one, from a different seller. Isn't it amazing how these dealers were inspired to locate such treasures or to pull these wonderful pieces out of their collections and offer them for sale to the rest of us?

[IvanPutski]

Case in point. These are the eagles from four SBSK helmets all offered and sold for good money within the span of a couple of months on eBay, all from the same source. As some of you know, I limit my collecting to helmets of the Polish Armed Forces in Exile in WW2. Take it from me, this is one of the rarest and most sought after pieces in that area of collecting. What's wrong with this picture?

And one other comment that I would like to add...

When these SBSK helmets originally came out on the market, there may have been one more from the same seller, that I don't have a pic of .... or it may be one of these; I can't remember....

But what I DO remember is that the helmet, which was painted in North African desert camo for the defense of Tobruk (in which the SBSK played such an important role) was dated either 1943 or 1944....which is of course interesting because the SBSK was disbanded in 1942. I believe that someone pointed that out to the seller, and the helmet was promptly removed from auction. Subsequent offerings all had properly dated shells, or else the shell markings were obscured by "thick paint"....

I just thought that was interesting....

[Rudy 102]

Hello folks. Nice forum here. Can you let me know how many salamandra camo grades were produced for polish helmet and also what colour of liner pockets is correct? Thank you-AP

[A.J. Zawadzki]

Can you let me know how many salamandra camo grades were produced for polish helmet and also what colour of liner pockets is correct?

Hello AP,

There were upwards of 300,000 made up by the outbreak of WW2.

The correct liner pocket colour is white.

And here’s another very nice original example currently listed for sale on Polish auction site Allegro. With 4 days remaining the price sits at just under $1500USD. The seller sates that it was found in Germany, so very likely a ‘September Souvenir’:

Dziewicza Salamandra wz31 ! Stan kolekcjonerski (840282519) - Aukcje internetowe Allegro

(pics from this auction posted below)

Regards,
Tony

[IvanPutski]

Here's another helmet that has hit the market, from the same seller that had the SBSK helmet of which I most recently posted pictures (Post #14 to this thread).
Maybe it's just me, but the overpainted finish looks awfully similar on those two helmets.

[A.J. Zawadzki]

. . . Maybe it's just me, but the overpainted finish looks awfully similar on those two helmets.

I must say, a very imaginative effort this time.

And it’s not just you. The telltale spray paint characteristics of this fraudster are visible on many of his creations.

Tony

[3mk]

Thats a German ww1 helmet,I doubt alot of these were used in the AK and during the Polish-Soviet war no one would of painted there helmet like this,1 give away that the sellers a crook is him saying he knows nothing about these helmets,he posts rare Polish helmets on ebay and claims to know nothing about them,