As I mentioned in my previous thread, I found another black SS helmet at the SOS. Actually, a "friend" found it but I managed to sweet-talk him out of it and it came home with me...
Again, this helmet probably does not appeal to the mainstream collector since it is not what some people deem to be "textbook" (whatever that means). Most guys want a black helmet with the standard CA Pocher decals on it. This helmet pre-dates the decal era and has hand rendered insignia painted onto the helmet, both of which have wonderful age patina. The insignia are of the standard style and were therefore a direct result of the 12 August 1935 RFSS order which stated that all SS helmets were to be painted prior to the Nurnberg Reichsparteitag celebrations in September of that year.
The helmet itself is a WW1 manufactured Austrian M16 which has been painted black over the original Austrian brown colour. The liner is a mid-1930s update and the three rivets are brass. There is a name in old German Sutterlin script on one of the liner pads. This name translates to "Schneider, Josef". I looked in my copy of the 1935 DAL and there is an Untersturmfuhrer from SS-Standarte 42 (Berlin) by that name listed. Who knows...it could be the owner?
Cheers,
