This helmet represents your quintessential dawn of WW2 being a German helmet having left the factory in mid-1939 based on the rear lot number of 4370. Basically this helmet would have been issued just as Poland was being invaded and is a highly sought after large SE66 M35 helmet with a re-enforced aluminum square bale liner system which was adopted in 1938 due to the common breakage of the non-reinforced that existed earlier.
The tri-color national shield is completely original as is the paint both inside and outside. All M35 Luftwaffe helmets at this time were given a smooth enamel sprayed on coating of RAL 7016 blue gray paint which was the European color code used at the time and continues to be used in Germany even today.
The liner system, liner leather, 3 split pins, inside and outside paint are all untouched since it left the factory in 1939 and so this helmet is truly one of those barn find survivors never played with or bikerized. Unfortunately, the eagle was neatly removed post war most likely by some German civilian or GI vet who wanted it to be de-nazified for whatever reason. I have professionally aged and applied a new LW SE textbook eagle to the helmet to complete the piece. The decal was applied via a water slide technique and has dried for a month and so the substrate glue on the reverse side has had enough time to be firmly cemented in place. As a professional restored and die hard collector I never want to do anything to permanently change or alter the history of any given helmet. To achieve this I did not add a top layer of protective lacquer to the decal's surface making this eagle addition completely reversible. All you need to do is to lay a damp cloth over top of the decal and wait about an hour for the decal to gently peel off of the surface with no residue left behind. This ensures that while the helmet's history has been fully restored at the same time this was done in a way that no permanent changes were made. The decal as it sits now is completely stable and ready to adorn your display shelves for generations to come without sacrificing any of it's original untouched WW2 history.
$1100
Please call, text or email me if interested.
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
