Berndorfer helmet

[pavol]

Hi,

I think this is an original Berndorfer helmet shell. Could you please help me with the price estimate? These are very rare and it is hard to estimate value based on the internet search. Thanks a lot for your help.

[Willmore]

Hello dendroid.

We do not give monetary valuations because price is subjective.

Kind regards,

Will.

[pavol]

There are many posts here on the forum where people asked about the value and others expressed their opinions. Price is only partially subjective, there is always some value range.

[Willmore]

Hi.

Please read this -

Free authentication and valuation service.

I googled Berndorfer helmet shell and many examples with prices came up, the first showed the price of a shell.

Kind regards,

Will.

[pavol]

I have read the thread above already long time ago. I do not think the complaints there are related to me. I am always polite and thankful, when I am asking about the authenticity. I am also still quite new to the hobby, focusing mainly on german helmets. I do not feel experienced enough to comment the posts of other people who are asking for feedback. Most of the time I am not wrong, but I prefer not to comment as long as I am not 100 percent sure. I am still wrong sometimes and the german helmets are a minefield. I am also reading most of the time. Not posting, not buying new stuff, because just a few months after I joined this forum and hobby the war started. The economic situation has been bad since then, not to mention the price spike of militaria. I am hesitating to buy new expensive items until the situation stabilizes. But this is really a rare oportunity to acquire a really rare helmet. And as you mentioned the prices are subjective - especially prices of the rare items like this one. You cant rely on google in this case in my humble opinion. That is the reason why I started this thread - I just do not want to overpay the helmet too much.

[Willmore]

Hello dendroid.

The thread does not relate to you, so please do not think I was being rude, but members should not give out valuations. I thought I would post up the link for reference. We see it over and over again where someone will ask for a valuation, then the item appears on eBay or a similar online auction site, again I am not saying this was your intention.

I wish I could help you with the authenticity of the shell and hopefully someone will be along soon to help.

Kind regards,

Will.

[AndyM35]

Hi Dendroid,

The shell does appear to show age and patina, however caution is still required as these are faked. Can you see any manufacturers stamps such as a little Bear logo and size (66) stamp in the rear skirt? One of the things that I like about it is that it shows the typical bend in the outer skirt (in the first pic), however even this has been incorporated into the faked versions. I’d be interested to see what you can find.

With regards to prices, as Will has said, it can be very subjective and everyone has their own comfort zone with regards to how much they are prepared to pay. I think one of the best ways is to search for previous sales by running a simple Google search which will bring results. You would then need to take into account the fact that it is not complete and is not in original condition. Also, sometimes the prices for auction house sales can be a little inflated as bidding wars can rapidly increase the price. So it would be a matter of working backwards from the price of a premium example.

Andy

[pavol]

Thank you for your reply, Andy. Seller sent me additional pictures, the bend you mentioned is nicely visible on one of the pictures. The bear and typical size marking 66 as well. I think the original pictures are a bit better than these ones, as they were taken outside. Anyway, sometimes I am wondering why some people have to mess with the antique items. What is your opinion about the postwar paint ? Looks like some guy used the helmet to test the paint spray gun. Or do you have a better explanation for the post war paint ?

[AndyM35]

Thanks for the additional photos Dendroid, especially of the manufacturers logo and size stamp. Your helmet does indeed look to be an original and while I’ve seen a variety of production figures being stated as the exact figure, these helmets were definitely produced in much smaller numbers than other WW1 helmets and are therefore quite rare, so congratulations.

It’s nice to see that it still retains a lot of its original Izonzo brown paint, however the red and white paint appear to date to a much later period and as far as I’m aware are not related to any post war military use. And I’m as perplexed as you are with regards to why people mess with these historical items and as collectors it’s hard for us to see them being mistreated. There is always the option of attempting to remove the post war paint given the current state of the helmet, or you may choose to leave as is. There are a number of good posts on removing paint from messed with helmets etc and the one below is one of those.
Removing paint in a safe manner