Swedish? Norwegian? What?

[Greg Pickersgill]

I've tried this on a FB site that concentrates on Norwegian helmets, but no result yet. So we'll see what You Lot have got to say. It is an interesting thing anyway.

On first glance it looks like a Swedish M26. It has the small crest along the centre line of the shell that is found on the Swedish M21 and the Norwegian M31.

The chinstrap is rivetted, not sewn as seems to be normal for the M31. Also, it seems identical to a type of strap used on the Swedish M26.

It has the metal liner band of a Swedish M21 - or a Norwegian M31. The metal liner band is not identical to that which I see in photos of the M31, but is more like that of the Swedish M21. The liner pads are not sewn to the liner band, as in in the M31, they are held by split-pins.

It does not have an applied rim, and there is no sign there ever was one that has been removed. There is no sign that a frontal crest, either Swedish or Norwegian, was ever in place.

There are no markings or stampings of any kind on shell, liner, or strap.

I am really confused. This helmet seems to have the characteristics of three different types. It is always possible that is has been assembled from parts, but perhaps there is another answer.

[kradman]

The Paint work to me looks like its been in Finnish army service but sorry cant tell you where it started its life

[Greg Pickersgill]

Well, after a lot of back and forth with some Scandinavian helmet collectors, and a lot more rooting through books and websites, I am no wiser. Well, OK, there actually is a theory, but it is unproven and unprovable.

Here's some parts of the whole; It is generally believed that the shell may be a Swedish M21 rather than a Norwegian M31 Baltic, because the ridge along the crown does not look large enough. This is hard to prove without direct comparison and that's out because I don't have an M31.

It has also benn proposed that the lack of a rim and a frontal crest (present on all M21) may be down to the shell being a test example provided to the Norwegians before production of the M31 began (first in Sweden, then in Norway.) This may also explain why the liner band and pad fixings are those of the M21 rather than the M31 (definately not the Swedish M26).

The strap is pretty much identical to that used on the Swedish M26,and not like that of the M21 or M31. It has been theorised that this is because the helmet was refurbished after WW2 when virtually everything available was being put into re-establishing the Norwegian armed forces. The paint colour has been claimed to be that of the late 1940s/early 1950s Norwegian forces.

And that is about it. When I bought the helmet I did wonder whether it was actually a M31 Baltic, but as soon as I had it in hand I had doubts. Now I really don't know what it is, exactly. Possibly a test helmet supplied from Sweden to Norway before WW2 and then refurbished with spare parts later; that may have to do.

[AbyssiumNOR]

I have a M31 Norwegian helmet and pictures you can compare with. The condition of this helmet is nowhere near yours, but you can check it out. Will post pictures soon

[AbyssiumNOR]

[AbyssiumNOR]

The cloth part inside the helmet liner, has been yellowed with age... its possible this helmet holds a hidden emblem/insignia from the NS police for ( National Socialist/ Nazi Police in Norway under the rule of Vidkun Quisling) I will try to find out if it has hidden emblem/insignia. ( the reason i believe this helmet is hiding its history is, the paint seems to be a little bit thicker and more intact than the rest, the rest of the paint you can peel off with a fingertip, but at the point where the insignia would be, its very firm and sturdy, and you can see some slight white spots on the side .

[AbyssiumNOR]

Didnt the finns mostly use german type stahlhelmets?

[Greg Pickersgill]

Didnt the finns mostly use german type stahlhelmets?

The Finns used whatever they could get. German M16, M35, M40, Hungarian M38, Italian M33, Swedish M26 and M37, and anything Russian that was found on the battlefield. Also their own Wartsila M40, which was an almost identical copy of the Swedish M37. And probably other helmets that I can't think of right now. Many of these continued in use after the wars, especially the Finnish M40, and the Finns also bought a lot of newly-made M35-type shells from West Germany in the mid-1950s.

That's a really good example of the M31 you have. the crest is much more obvious on yours than on my mystery helmet. I now do not believe mine is a true M31. I think it is an Swedish M26 shell with the liner of a Swedish M21. I do not know why this exists - perhaps it is an early test example. I don't know.

[OsiusGaming]

Late reply, but what I believe you have here is on of the few examples of the test helmets Sweden supplied to Norway in 1930. Norway had requested 100 of these helmets and they were manufactured in Sweden by the factory Eskilstuna Stalpressning A/B. These helmets were still being used in testing until the Norwegian facility Raufoss received an order of 2000 of these helmets on April 7,1931.

Now, I have not actually seen one of these test helmets before, so what you have may not be one of them. But given the origin of the helmets, and the fact that yours bears many similarities to Swedish helmets, I think it may be safe to assume what you have is one of these.

All my info came from the book: A Collector's Guide to Scandinavian Military Helmets: Denmark And Norway

[Greg Pickersgill]

Osius, thanks for the suggestion, and confirmation of some of my suspicions. It seems incredibly unlikely that it is one of the very few test helmets, but then nothing is impossible. Obviously *I* have come up with no better idea in the last couple of years!