Wanna see my German helmet..........no seriously!!!

[curraheeguns]

I drove 325 round trip today to pick this up. It is a exxxxxxcelent condition M1940 German Heer (Army). Made circa 1941 or 1942. The last photo is the new one next to my German M1940 Luftwaffe (Air Force).

 

[Cwood]

Nice find!

 

[kedie]

Very cool piece of history there!

 

[citizenkane]

Very nice, I love these old helmets.

 

[hornadylnl]

Whatever you do, don't take it to the Indy 1500. Don't want anymore newspaper articles written about all the neo Nazis being there.

 

[curraheeguns]

I will never be ashamed of collecting WWII stuff, even Nazi items and could really care less what the Indy Star thinks.

I bought the Luftwaffe off a guy who said he had it "hiden" in his closet for thirty years.

I wish all those guys would send me the stuff hidden in their closets.

 

[hornadylnl]

I was in Ukraine in 96. We went to a city market and a friend bought a Nazi helmet for $20. If I'd have seen it before him, I would have bought it. It looked like it had been through a fire but you still could see the emblem on it.

 

[curraheeguns]

I was in Ukraine in 96. We went to a city market and a friend bought a Nazi helmet for $20. If I'd have seen it before him, I would have bought it. It looked like it had been through a fire but you still could see the emblem on it.

You have to be real careful buying these things, they are so valuable that fakes are abundant. They have been faking them for 40+ years so even the fakes look old now.

A famous collector on one site has a photo of an original camo German helmet and one that he had made two days prior and they are absolutely identical. No one on the sight could pick the fake from the real.

Anytime big money is involved in collecting, you can bet your arse someone is going to fake it.

I have sold 4 US M1 helmets to a guy in Normandy, France in the last year. You can bet your butt this guy is selling them to US tourist as "local pickups".

 

[hornadylnl]

I'm pretty sure this would have been the real thing. I'm not sure these market people would have had the gumption to fake them in 96. They eere a new country in 91 and probably wouldn't have had to many westerners before that that would have had much interest. I have a soviet helmet with a red star but I doubt it is worth much. I got all kinds of soviet stuff while I was there.

 

[ferg409]

nice piece of history

 

[Dryden]

Nice find and great pics. Your photos reminded me of long lost memories...
My grandfather brought back a Nazi helmet along with some other items. As a young kid, I used to think the air vent holes on the sides were actually bullet holes. I had a vivid imagination back then. I felt very strange whenever I put the helmet on.... like putting on a dead man's shoes.
Rambling thoughts----OFF