Gaspare, As I understand it the X-Ray Fluorescense technology is a non-destructive method to determine the composition of an item. Something like spectroscopy, with the idea behind it being that the physical/elemental/chemical composition of items made 70 plus years ago should not have modern period substances in them and should generally conform to what was used in the target period. A long while back having seen results from a more traditional spectroscopic examination of period dagger blades that set a sort of benchmark that was compared to U.S. standards. Something that the "Chapagne" decals/paint failed because of the presence of copper. With the airbrush vs. decal IMO another matter entirely. With, as I understand it paint, an airbrush, and templates used in lieu of decals which are paint like transfers on paper which is discarded. Both having the same overall appearance after drying. With Best Regards, Fred
PS: Not having seen one for confirmation - I made the assumption that XRFacts themselves are the COA's that are being sold to 'authenticate' the "Champagne SS helmets".
They have essentially used whatever argument suits them based on the result of a proprietary baseline and no transparency. So where individual decals were available they were scanned and then helmets with the decal applied scanned and differences mathmatically adjusted. But no decals were available for a Champagne rune so it was shot against a helmet and then compared against a baseling of their own collections resulting in both false positives and negatives for originality on a multitude of helmets. This XRFact test was later and bought in to sell certificates and no doubt to further enforce the issue on Champagme decals which were being questioned behind the scenes... It should also be noted that helmets that failed the test and sent in were offered a purchase price to the owner of 50.00. Apparently some good helmets failed the XRFacts test.
The helmets themselves for the most part are not XRF certified and are Kelly Hicks certified and certifications increased as his publicatiions started to bulge from Champagne decal helmets with his name attached. Does not appear to matter as Kelly Hicks has expressed no interest in refunding any monies.
