M42 EF slate grey lot #

[Danmark]

Hi all,
Nothing new here, I've had this for many years. It's just a plane Jane M42 made in the Fulda factory sometime in 1943 and typical of the late war helmet the troops were wearing.

When I bought it, the seller believed it was a "corpse cut" example because of the missing liner / cut straps but I dismissed the story and just bought the item as it was ( not a lot of money)



I just liked the fact that it was so thinly painted slate grey and hadn't been messed with - even the strap ends and liner remains hadn't been stripped out ( which is surprising ) nor had it had fake decals applied!!!

I could barely read the stamping - typical of these - and I think? it reads 2887 for the lot#. Trouble is, according to the ICE book, Fulda at the 'decal drop' date was up in the 3000's ( and the first digit definitely looks like a 2 to me )

Any thoughts???

[Danmark]

And here are some detail shots of the strap ends and the remains of the pigskin liner.

You can see how darkened and brittle it became...why? I guess it fell out but what sent it so weakened?

[AndyM35]

Nice Dan! Love the paint on this one and always like seeing a good front line pig!

[Helmcollector]

Forgive me my ignorance, but never heard of a 'corpse cut' helmet...

[Danmark]

Forgive me my ignorance, but never heard of a 'corpse cut' helmet...

Its when a helmet was removed from the dead as a souvenier and the chinstrap was just cut rather than unbuckled....

[Mazlin]

Its when a helmet was removed from the dead as a souvenier and the chinstrap was just cut rather than unbuckled....

I don't think you needed to explain that

[Helmcollector]

On the contrary, I did not think about that...expecially because the leather is removed too...corpus = latin for body...So a horror scenario came into my mind that head + helmet was removed from the body...Did me think of someone on a flea market in Bastogne who sold German relic helmets and showed me in his car (hidden from the public) a skull with helmet where the bullet hole in the helmet was exactly on the same place in the skull...

[Adravor]

What a disgusting person, digging up a corpse and selling it with the helmet the person wore when he died... also highly illegal i assume.

[Kateri]

Hi Dan.
The Ice list suggests some shells were held back as "seconds" but were issued later.
Double Beading work would be a nightmare on the change to M42 production.
I had a medical pouch with that same fluffy break on your chinstrap.
The rust on the skirt makes me think the liner and chinstrap were lost in post war storage.
Please pass my regards to Rene if you are in contact.
Thanks for showing your relatively inoffensive EF.