I have already posted it in the expensive hobby thread but I'm pretty sure that Arfcom is full of hidden gems and I would like to see them.
Mine:




_ 2 US or British WW1 Mk1/M1917 found in the Somme in relic condition.




_ Bulgarian M1936C




_ British MKII made in 1939 and used during WW2 by the Eastern Irish
defense forces (I don't think that more than a few 100's of them have
been preserved)




_ Spanish Z 1942 (copy of the German M1942)
_ Swiss M1918




_ Vickers Irish helmet M1927 (copy of the German WW1 helmet, no more than 10,000 of them were made)




_ French M1926




_ Belgian M1931




_ Italian M1933 used in the Spanish civil war.
_ Italian M1933, the shell was made in 1942 and the last layer of paint is from the 80's.




_ 2 British Mk2 (both of them made in 1940 )




_ French M1935 used by the Air force.




_ US MK3 flak helmet
_ US,French, Italian, French, German water canteen from the WW2 and WW1.




_ French haversack (fully loaded but without any white flag)




_ French gas mask




_ Czech VZ32 used by the german luftschutz




_ Czech Vz32 with double german decals.
I started this collection less than 6 months ago so that's quite a lot of bucks spent in a short time.




Excepted the first 2 British helmets all of them are complete with liner and chinstrap.
As you can see i'm mainly interested in the 1918-1945 time frame.
Some close-up:




British MKII used by the Irish army.



Shell and liner made in 1939




French M1935 with the AF insignia, stamped 1938.




Belgian Adrian M1931.




Czech Vz.32 reused by the Germans. A decal with the german national colors is on the other side. I have to protect our fellow german members from their law but the swastika is fully conserved.




US M3 flak helmet. Used by the bomber's aircrew, 200,000 made between 1943 and 1945. This one is in mint condition with all the flocking still there.




An Irish vickers M1927. 10,000 of them were made by Vickers in England with German captured tools in 1927.



4,000 were dumped in a new barrack foundation by the Irish army in the 80's, so they are now quite scarce, mine is numbered 4255.
As there is no militaria EE on this site, shoot me a pm is you want to sell one of yours one of these days .
Now show me your helmets !!






 

I think it's late WWII US but it came with a Vietnam era camo cover (not pictured)

kcolg30 likes...

those are cool, nice collection



I have no helmets

Nice, you can date it with it's bales and rim:

http://www.hardscrabblefarm.com/ww2/dating_m1.htm



There is also a chart for dating them with their serial number but I can't find it anymore.



 

Police, Civil service.

Nice, a gladiator luftschutz helmet is on my short-list but their price increased by at least X3 since a few year.



One of their little brother: A Czech Vz32 reused by the luftschutz:





 

You have an awesome collection!

Thanks for posting this. I had a similar helmet my grandfather had given me. I was told it was a tank drivers helmet, which is weird considering he enlisted in the Air Force in 1947 and became a B29 crew chief. Never really thought about it. Just looked it up and it's a M5 flak helmet. It wasn't his (someone else's name is on the headband) but I'd like to know more about this type of helmet.

I was just wondering the other day, maybe you guys would know: did the VC in VietNam have any kind of helmet during that war? I was just
watching a documentary where B-52's were raining down 30-ton payloads on suspected enemy movements... good lord.... the concussion blastwave....

M5 were only produced in 1945 and mainly used in the pacific, only 90,000 of them were made.

The best site I know about them are not in English but google translation is working rather well:



http://www.world-war-helmets.com/fiche.php?q=Casque-US-M-5  (In French)

http://www.cascoscoleccion.com/usa/usm5.htm  (In Spanish)



A minty one is currently on sell on ebay for 250$.



I don't know why but people are often thinking that they are tank helmets, my M3 was also advertised as one.



 

oh man... i have a picture that i want to post in here, but the member in the picture would kill me.

I have a WW2 german helmet in the shed. Too deep to dig it out for a pic!

I've got a WWII Wehrmacht helmet that my great uncle liberated from a man that didn't need it anymore.

Can't have a Mosin Nagant without a helmet.

Black Panther combat "hemit" current issue:

Worn by my friend Habib Muhammed

Yeah, I got a few.



Oops....I forgot these two.

Hey, it's a helmet thread, and this is the only one I have.


Better than a bread helmet, right?

Nice collection.

Thanks

I like the CD and the two with the Mitchell Pattern covers. Had one as a kid . I would reverse the cover based on the seasons. Then I saw in a field manual where you could use burlap. My old man found for me a part a burlap sack. He then 3m glued it on . Wish I knew where it was..

DP

Yeah the CD (actually WW-2 OCD) is in remarkable shape with only the paint/decal yellowed a bit with age. I like how they pressed old helmets into service with new paint and a economy liner. The decal on this one denotes admin staff. The Office of Civil Defence had a different decal to denote different functions. Only post war did they go with the CD decal only.

IMHO they are a under-appreciated home-front item. I seldom see them for much more than $30.00.

Good info here: http://combathelmets.blogspot.com/2008/09/united-states-civil-defense-ocd-wwii.html

My Grandfather had a impressive collection, I'm sure it was well over 60 helmets. Here are two I inherited. He bought them in 1968. I think that the Cover on the Japanese helmet may be a reproduction, because it looks new. Also I suspect the swastika sticker on the German helmet could be a reproduction, as it is in almost perfect shape. Any experts care to chime in?

There is a distinct chance that I know less about helmets than anyone on this board. But I thought the Germans painted any insignia and didn't use stickers.

Like I said, no clue whatsoever but maybe it helps some.

Honestly I cant tell if its paint or a sticker. The shield on the other side is chipped, so I know that is paint. It looks like both emblems have a shiny protective film or coat over them.

I bought this helmet a couple months back at an auction.  It was sold as a repro paint job and decals.  I was told it was an old repro build, whatever that means.

I really have to take some new pics...

A few more.

Here's a couple of '44-dated British MkIII helmets



a US Marine medics helmet-I had no idea what that big white dot was for years-that's why I put a net over it



US 37th division, WW1  (on a British-made helmet)

No,the Germans used decals on their helmets. There are experts on forums like Wehrmacht Awards that can tell if the decal is a fake or not from good,closeup photos.

Wow more than impressive.



I was going to post a link to a similar M1 helmet on the US militaria forum before realizing that it was your helmet



 

oh dude. i love me some german helmet.

I actually have quite a few more US and British helmets, but no photos of them. I was collecting them back when not many others were.

One last one,from Iraq,2006

See?

Learn something new everyday. Thanks, jeep44.

Been on Wehrmacht Awards a few times. Those people definitely know their stuff. Easy to get confused reading all the detail.

Here is one of mine. SS Police relic dug up from the Battle for the Narva Bridgehead. Got the guys dog tags and belt buckle too.

To all who have posted:  Nice Collections, some nice pieces out there! I realize there is a lot of time and money probably tied up in them as well.

I wish I could find a current issue helmet in L/XL (I think that is the largest size made, but I am not sure.) In basic training, and a little beyond, the Drill Sgt.s would call me "Captain Cranium" cause I have a rather large head, and feet. They claimed I could be a mascot for "Jack-in-the-Box", until they noticed the size of my feet, then I got called Sasquatch a lot.

-PC-

Very cool collection you have there!!!

 

Really nice collections guys..