post war M33 with black paint

[Apache8]

Hello there,

I recently picked up an M33 that as far as I can tell is completely post war. however upon closer inspection of some scratches on the underside it appears the helmet was originally painted black. the only black M33's that I have seen are black shirt ones which seems unlikely due to the age. is it possible that this was a ww2 shell that had a new liner put in or was there a different group that used black paint post war? the stamp reads S141.

any help is greatly appreciated
Apache8

[MAP]

We have a few members here who are very well versed with M33 and hopefully they will respond shortly.

My knowledge is cursory and subject to correction but will give my views until they do.

The liner is most likely post war (given the "Z") but it could transition into late war. The Paint is post war as well as the strap. The shell is most probably a recycled war time shell.

I am not sure what the black paint is however. Maybe others have seen this before.

In the meantime, here is a thread that you might find useful.

Italian M33 helmet-1947-90

[Tinhat]

Is it painted black or is it the bare shell, sometimes the steel looks black on M33s.

Steve.

[MAP]

Can you post larger resolution photos? They can't be expanded so hard for us to see enough.

If black paint, my gut tells me the helmet was messed with and then someone (non-official) repainted

[Apache8]

looking at it closely the metal looks more silver in the middle of the scratches which is what leads me to believe it's paint

[Apache8]

dose this picture work better?

[MAP]

Looks like black paint to me. I'm not aware of the Italians using Black paint/primer on post war helmets. But maybe others know.

[Apache8]

here's the other pictures

[Tinhat]

Yes, it does look like black paint, no way of knowing who used it before though.

[OldSteel]

Hello everyone,
I have now read this thread, and if I can I try to give my thoughts.
I believe that it is a helmet of the Carabinieri, a Special Military Police Corps with functions also of public order.
During WW2 they used M33 both in the black version for the metropolitan uniform, and in the gray-green version for the field uniform, both wore the badge with the royal logo on the front:
Large silver badge (mod. 1938) for black helmet
Small black badge (mod. 1934) for gray-green helmet

After the war these helmets were reused by revising them at different times:
Late 1940s, mid 1950s: khaki-brown color and WW2 period components
Late 1950s, early 1990s: khaki-green color and new postwar components
but in both cases there could be the badge or not.
Your helmet could be one of them, I personally have seen many examples over the years.

Regards
Roberto