M40 Q64 DAK HELMET WITH PALM TREE (Restored)

This is one of my latest creations a genuine find right out of North Africa just as a US vet would have brought home in his duffle bag.

The helmet was made at the Quist factory in Esslinger in the year 1940-41 and is definitely a perfect shell representing a German infantry soldier being sent to North Africa in the year 1941. There is a lot of speculation about hand painted palm tree helmets as most appear to be US vet added however based on the number of original photos of DAK vehicles with similar stenciled palm tree/swastika patterns we can safely assume that many German soldiers would have wanted the same on their own helmets.

Using only materials available at the time I tried my best to duplicate by hand what the average DAK soldier would have seen on his own transport vehicles. I added a touch of pink to similar the pinkish paints available at the time to blend in with the granite sands. The outside paint is RAL 8000 which is exactly the color issued to the Wehrmacht for the African campaign and so the color is spot on accurate!!!

The Heer decal is an in-house creation and exactly what you would expect to find as a textbook Quist factory bigfoot eagle golden tanned to blend in with the rest of the shell.

The inside liner is an aged reproduction and heavily darkened just like most DAK originals are whereby the heat and pouring sweat speeded up the chemical reactions between the soldiers protein molecules and the tanins used to cure the leather. The chinstrap is 1941 dated and an aged reproduction. I think it turned out quite well actually!!!!

$375 SOLD
This one is sold however since I did the restoration myself I can easily duplicate another for you. Please call, text or email me if interested and I can let you know which ORIGINAL German helmet shells I have available.

PLEASE NOTE: Original raw shell prices have risen dramatically since the pandemic and so future pricing will vary depending on my costs at any given time.

If interested please text or email.
Tel/Text: 1-438-502-5052
Email Us: helmetsofwar@gmail.com

GERMAN HELMET FACTORY PRODUCTION CODES
(Every original German helmet produced from 1935 to 45 had two factory stampings punched into the side and rear or both in the rear.  The alpha numeric number refers to the factory location and the inside metric circumference in centimeters.  The rear lot number refers to the production run and was used as a quality control measure. The font styles used at each factory were slightly different but highly consistent throughout the war and so fakes or reproductions will either not have these numbers at all or they will use the wrong font style or letter spacing and so are easily identified as post war made.)

(FS or EF)-Emaillierwerke AG, Fulda, Germany
(ET or ckl)-Eisenhuttenwerke, Thale, Germany
(Q)-Quist, Esslingen, Germany
(NS)-Vereinigte Deutsche Nikelwerke, Schwerte, Germany
(SE or hkp)-Sachsische Emaillier u. Stanzwerke, Lauter, Germany

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