DESCRIPTION
This helmet came in acquired from a military show many years ago but a seasoned collector looking to thin out some of his display shelves. This is an M35 Q66 (Quist, Esslingen, Germany ) produced helmet with a rear lot number of 4313 placing the original issue date to around mid 1939 according to Brian Ice's lot data book.
In March of 1940 Wehrmacht High Command issued new directives concerning helmet production and use whereby a darker matte finished enamel paint was used with a textured finish and the tri color national shield were no longer to be applied. The order went on to specify that existing helmets should have their national shields removed for better concealment in the field. As a result many M35 underwent a factory or many times a field refurbishment to make the helmets more combat ready.
In this particular example we can see that the helmet retains it's original re-enforced aluminum square bale liner system, drawstring and full length chinstrap marked Rahm & Kampmann Wuppertal-E 1939. So just as it left the factory back in 1939. However at some point during the war but after 1940 the Luftwaffe soldier went ahead and applied a rough textured paint finish to the outside shiny blue gray paint and took time to neatly paint around the existing Luftwaffe decal while covering over entirely the tri-color national shield on the opposite side. I believe at that very moment the solider decided to apply a new Luftwaffe eagle decal that went directly over top of the old one and so slightly overlaps as can be seen in the detailed photos.
Most likely at some point after the war it appears that someone did a little decal searching for the missing national shield and heated removed a shield shaped layer of paint but then stopped when they realize the underlying decal was cracked and a little broken in places. The national shield can still be seen poking through the outside paint. The original liner system is dated 1939 and made from high end calf skin leather with a 58 stamped on one of the fingers. Fortunately for the sake of history the original LW soldier painted his name on the inside back skirt "Gefr. Lochel" and so could most likely be researched.
A wonderful example and a helmet with some real character suggesting at least some direct WW2 combat experience in my view.
$1500
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HELMETS OF WAR INC.
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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
