UBB.threads Forums Uniform & Accessories Helmet Forum FELDHERRNHALLE M35 steel helmet e-bay

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=36046&item=6610232464

Real?????

Real?????

My question is...what do you think?

I wish they were all that easy!

Jim

quote:

Originally posted by darryl:
Real?????

My question is...what do you think?

Funny, that's what I was thinking.

Cody

I have only ever handled one of these and the color and decal look good, but I'm far from being able to say yea or nea on it.

Fritziii

I was quick to judge one of these bad on the WAF but I am sure this one is absolutely BAD!

I guess what I am trying to do here is to make collectors answer their own questions in regards to helmet originality. Obviously, experience is key and if guys genuinely cannot tell if something is either good or bad then please ask the questions. Hopefully one of us here will be able to steer you in the right direction and/or offer opinions.

In this case, simply weigh the "pros" and "cons" of the piece and ask yourself if such a rare helmet would not sell immediately if offered on the open market...

Con;

- on eBay with no reserve,
- on eBay with a private bidder listing,
- on eBay ,
- helmet is the wrong colour,
- pictures are distant and not close-up,
- liner is a Norwegian re-issue,

Pro;

- none.

Any questions??

Cheers,

Add to the cons that all sales are final. What's sad is that the bid is up to $642.00 with over seven days left. I think that the unsuspecting buyers are swayed by the helmet comming out of Germany, so it must be real!

Private listings are an open door to a "runup"

Probably had a couple of real bids when it was in the repo price range. Now they're looking to hook "just" one and he'll be sitting on top.

No reserve is not always an indicator. I've got a few real nice mid priced helmets at quite fair prices in no reserve auctions.

Private listing are 100% guarenteed to be bogus. No returns also guarentees it 100% of the time.

Ebayer sleeper finder..

Hi

I do not want offend anybody overseas, but from collecting experience and from listening.Third reich items , most of them are in our own back yard. ie Canada and the USA . They brought alot back. And the ban on third reich items in Germany , it just makes sense. Again I do not want to offend the overseas guys.

Joe Semen

Joe, it is totaly not right what you are saying here with ban etc.
I can tell you on ebay germany they don't cancel so many auctions regarding that what we collect compared to ebay.com.
Then I have my pick up's in germany every view month with good stuff and I get enough stuff out from private. And then I would invite for the Stuttgart show to drink with me a beer there (w/o an ID request) and we have there also great shows where a lot of US dealer are going hunting (but I am the first ). When it is baned, check out some of the great auction houses like Herman Historica in Muenchen. I am realy tired about this "not allowed" talking without any background about anything.

Joe please don't think I am offended, I just would like to state how it is over in good "old" Europe. And it is for sure not so as certain people think. Especially people who never made one step outside from the US or Canada.

Robert, I agree with you 100%. Much of the untouched German militaria I have seen has come out of Europe. And in Norway they are still discovering uniforms and equipment hidden away when they clean up or tear down old buildings. Not to speak of what people still have stashed away in basements and attics.

The other factor is of course that German militaria has been widely collected here in the US for the past 60+ years. For also to be peddled, altered, and faked for the ever growing U.S. collector market.
While much equipment and uniforms disappeared from the "public view" in Germany, the occupied countries have up until today often been been a "treasure chest" if you know where to look.

Europe has also been a source for fakes and forgeries. But this has primarily been aimed at the U.S. collectors. The ironic thing is that fake militaria sold to U.S. collectors often finds it way back to Europe through dealers and collectors trading among themselves.

Erik

Well I just did not realize it. I just thought
after the war . They baned it and everthing nazi
got destroyed. Well it open my eyes anyway.

Joe Semen

In my opinon it depends on what Third Reich field it is. For named individual groups, photo's, award documents Europe is the best source for unscrewed with items.
For unscrewed with helmets, uniforms(especially SS),daggers, insigna and firearms the U.S. and Canada.
Because so, the majority of European collectors have a much more difficult time in learning what to look for in a honest helmet. There is not a huge base of unscewed with helmets to learn from by upcoming collectors. The one's that have mastered this field are truely unique and special as they had a more difficult uphill battle learning than their North American counterpart.

Perry. With all due respect I disagree with you in your theory. Keep in mind that this hobby has been driven by a strong demand fueled by the U.S. collecting community. Fakes and forgeries produced in the U.S., Europe and the Far East has primarily been aimed at the U.S. market who have over the years not only yielded the volume of collectors but also the market that has been willing to pay the highest prices.

The result has also been that the United States have been a "dumping ground" for post war altered German helmets (i.e. Norwegian re-issues) and a whole industry of middle to low end fakes driven by the "gun show crowd" has emerged.

I am quite firm in my belief that the most untouched helmets come out of Europe. The problem is that most U.S. collectors go to the European dealers or e-bay expecting to find these helmets there. European dealers are no better than U.S. dealers, and the untouched helmets come out of peoples homes or long time domestic collections. E-bay should also not be considered a good source for finding untouched helmets from Europe.

I don't want this to end up in an argument over where the best helmets can be sourced. We could never agree on that anyway. I respect that Perry do not share my view, but I also believe this deserves a corrective reply from those of us that have collected helmets out of basements, atticks and old military supplies in Europe.

Erik

just to add a note
i travel to the ukrane once a year and source helmets from locals,there disregard for nazi items is evident everywhere.i have seen people milking cows into german ss lids,they just rip out the liner plug the holes and hey presto a milking jug.
in the woods around certain villages you can walk through woods and pick up dozens of helmets from fallschirmjager to heer lids.
flash 20 euros at locals and you are sure to be confronted with a nice german helmet.im off there at the end of march to get some more
you boys miss out big time for genuine helmets as most over your way are messed with.
dont mean to rub it in just pointing out a fact

"For unscrewed with helmets, uniforms(especially SS),daggers, insigna and firearms the U.S. and Canada.
Because so, the majority of European collectors have a much more difficult time in learning what to look for in a honest helmet. There is not a huge base of unscewed with helmets to learn from by upcoming collectors"

Thats true there are only a few camo helmets for sale over here in the UK but you lucky guys in the US have barge loads of camos .I think 1in 5 German helmets in the US is a camo whereas over here in the UK its 1 in every 500 .Rob.

YOu should have let the Germans come ashore instead of you going across the Channel to get them. I bet you would have had a lot more to choose from first hand then.....


Erik

Interesting . When I was younger I rarely saw a camo helmet being offered. It seems that in the last few years they have multiplied, which begs the question of authenticity on many of them. A camo is certainly the easiest to fake, although I have seen some fairly pathetic attempts at forgery.

Whats interesting is that I have been a serious student of the European theater of WWII for over 25 years, and addicted to the History Channel, and in all of the books I have read and film clips that I have seen, cammo'd helmets were rare. I've seen more helmets with foliage attached to them than painted. The helmets that I most often seen painted were AK helmets, and the vast majority of the German army was on the eastern front, and to permanently paint your helmet white was like begging to be shot in the head during the spring and summer. I'm starting to wonder if some of the cammo'd helmets now being seen are helmets that have come of age, that were painted maybe ten years ago? Think about it as an investment and you're a crook. With good original cammo helmets now fetching $1500.00+, you can put together a faux helmet with an original shell, paint and all for $300.00. Toss it around and store it in a damp place for five years, considering how much the price of helmets has risen in the last few years, it will likely sell for $2000.00+. Beats the stock market! Face it, there is a finite number of original helmets out there, and the better ones are being held on to, or traded between collectors via e-mail or phone. The service being offered by Ken N. to certify original helmets with paperwork may be controversial to some, but may be what's needed in the collecting comunity. Anytime a photo is posted on the forum of a pile of discarded German helmets for us to wish we had a time machine, remember, easily over 90% of those helmets were either destroyed or now in the hands of some Eastern European fire/police dept. to be repainted and decaled and sold to a reenactor or as an original.

i wish we had let them come ashore all we have in england is knights and armour
but seriously there are helmets for easy money in the eastern block they have total disregard for nazi items if your ruthless enough you can pick up good helmets for peanuts

quote:

Originally posted by erikofnorway:
YOu should have let the Germans come ashore instead of you going across the Channel to get them. I bet you would have had a lot more to choose from first hand then.....


Erik