M42 Stahlhelm Heer? SS? Real or fake?

[ShapedSteel]

Hello everyone,
This is my M42, I've already posted it in another thread of mine but was advised to post it in it's own thread.

I was told that it was real and a SS but I was also told that It's fake with a post war decal applied.
The pictures I had uploaded the first time weren't all that good because the background was too white which caused glare, so now I have uploaded some pictures which are more helpful, I hope. I don't see any pitting and it has authentic looking rust, but you people know more than me so I'll see.

I really hope that it is real! And if it's a real SS then that would really make my day!
Thanks in advance!

[ShapedSteel]

Here are some extra pictures.

[Schwerpunkt]

When looking at SS helmets , lot numbers and maker stamps are important.
I believe this is an ET 1924 yes ?

The interior paint looks fine , the exterior paint very thin possibly cleaned heavily which may explain the lack of a decal on the Heer side.
We know of a bunch of CKL stamped SS helmets but I have not seen ET stamped SS helmets.

So there's a couple of things 'against' it. Also the wear on the three rivets is very different, also something to look at.

[ShapedSteel]

When looking at SS helmets , lot numbers and maker stamps are important.
I believe this is an ET 1924 yes ?

The interior paint looks fine , the exterior paint very thin possibly cleaned heavily which may explain the lack of a decal on the Heer side.
We know of a bunch of CKL stamped SS helmets but I have not seen ET stamped SS helmets.

So there's a couple of things 'against' it. Also the wear on the three rivets is very different, also something to look at.

Thank you for your response,
I forgot to post the lot numbers, dumb of me.
The wear on the two rivets at the front is relatively the same but the wear on the rear one is indeed different.
The lot number is indeed a ET62 1924, here are the pictures.

SS Helmets – German Helmet Vault (This website btw has some ET SS helmets)

[PotatoDigger]

You could also take pictures of the split pins on the inside to check if they may have been rebent, that would explain the one split pin not matching the others wear wise, I do think that the helmet has been scrubbed on the outside, there appear to be some scrubbing marks on some parts of the helmet.

[PotatoDigger]

The back liner pin does look a tad out of place as it has quite some pitting where as the rest of the shell doesn't appear to have any.
Also looks to be a different shade of green on that one.

[Schwerpunkt]

Thank you for your response,
I forgot to post the lot numbers, dumb of me.
The wear on the two rivets at the front is relatively the same but the wear on the rear one is indeed different.
The lot number is indeed a ET62 1924, here are the pictures.

SS Helmets – German Helmet Vault (This website btw has some ET SS helmets)

It's my website :-)
ET M40 yes, ET M42 no. CKL M42 yes.

[ShapedSteel]

The back liner pin does look a tad out of place as it has quite some pitting where as the rest of the shell doesn't appear to have any.
Also looks to be a different shade of green on that one.

Yes, I'll go do that. The leather is very fragile though, so I'm afraid that I'll damage it.
About the scrubbing, yes I do see that the outside paint has a pretty thin layer. But the paint doesn't look scrubbed to me, it has the paint texture that you'd expect (But you obviously have a lot more experience so you know more than me). I have read somewhere that M42's made later in the war have thinner layers of paint, I do not know if that's true or not though.

About the rivets, the rivet on the back does indeed have a bit of pitting, but on the other hand it does have a pretty thick layer of paint on it do it could also just be pitting in the paint. The colors look the same to me (In my hand), I'll go take another look at it.

(What would by the way be the purpose of scrubbing a helmet?)

[ShapedSteel]

It's my website :-)
ET M40 yes, ET M42 no. CKL M42 yes.

Hahaha, what a coincidence. The profile pictures didn't load on my end so I had no idea, haha.

But yes, I do not see a M42 on there, I'll go look for one. Great website by the way!

[M38]

I agree with Frank, I've never seen an ET M42 SS. This helmet has some issues as stated, not an unmessed example sorry to say. Probably originally a SD Heer scrubbed down to remove rust or otherwise clean it up, and then an SS helmet was "created" that didn't look so good so fake decal removed.

Cheers,
Terry