DESCRIPTION
This helmet came from a biker out in sunny California who had orignally spray painted it in a matte aluminum finish. Fortunately he used a hardware store spray can back in the 1980's which can be easily removed and didn't chrome dip it as many did in those days. It actually turned out to be a blessing that it had so many over layers of post war paint as that protected it from moisture thereby keeping this 100+ year old WW1 German army shell in mint condition all these years.
I went ahead and stripped it down to bare metal and then gave it a WW2 dark field gray textured enamel paint job both inside and out and applied a silver textbook ET eagle Heer decal which was then sealed in with a lacquer hardening resin. The 66 ink stamping is often seen on reissued helmets to help at the factory to sort them out into corresponding piles based on size.
The inside liner came already installed in the helmet and appears to have possibly come out of a 1930's German civilian police helmet along with this tan canvass chinstrap and so I believe the liner to be a transitional inter war version and so a nice addition to complete a late war WW2 issued helmet.
This helmet is meant to pay tribute to all of those late war M16 German helmets that were repurposed for the war effort and German production of helmets began in be stressed and limited over the duration of the war.
In the past I have sold similar helmets in sizes 64 and 66 in the $400-$450 range however because of all of the post war biker paint this 100 year old helmet was in remarkable condition and basically gem mint. This is clearly seen by the crisp and deep factory stampings of ET66 which are often faded from rust or worn down over time. The amazing detailing of the gothic ET66 font makes this truly one of the best examples of a mint WW1 I have come across in recent years. And so I would like to get a little more out of this one knowing it will be a while before I get another one this nice in my inventory. See close up shots of the ET66 stamping provided below as they are typically never this clear and concise.
$500 HOLD -Robert H.
Please call, text or email me if interested.
Tel/Text: 1-438-502-5052
Email Us: helmetsofwar@gmail.com
HELMETS OF WAR INC.
PO Box 555
Champlain, NY 12919-0555
Shipping to Anywhere USA/Canada: $22 with full tracking numbers.
Shipping to Australia/New Zealand: $75 with full tracking numbers.
(Please contact us with any special shipping instructions as I am here to serve and facilitate the shipment.)
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
