Third Party Press

"Forest Find" M40 SS Helmet

morticianman1990

Senior Member
Hey guys, just wanted to share a new pick up. It's pretty rough, but I thought the decal looked pretty good for the condition, and of course it cost me a considerable amount less than an M40 in good condition. I'll get better pictures at some point. I looked for a maker mark and lot number when I first got it but they might be completely hidden by oxidation. There is about 2/3 of the liner remaining, not in great shape.

After receiving the helmet I inquired about any background info on it. I was told it was not a relic/ground dug example but was found in a forest near Leningrad or modern day St. Petersburg. He also says it is likely from the SS-Totenkopfverbande organization. I inquired why he believes this but haven't heard back yet (he's in russia and usually responds around 3 a.m. EST). I will update with his response as well, as that should be rather interesting.

Cheers,
Erich20200211_164040.jpg

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Follow up: I cannot seem to make out any makers mark or lot number. To me the decal seems to be ET/Ckl. Here's a quick snap on the inside and decal
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I’m no expert at all on the SS decals but I will say that decal is in exceptional condition in comparison to the lid itself. That’s not a negative from me. I have a supposed SS lid in a little better condition (but barely) but the decal is too far gone to tell for sure. Congratulations!


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I’m no expert at all on the SS decals but I will say that decal is in exceptional condition in comparison to the lid itself. That’s not a negative from me. I have a supposed SS lid in a little better condition (but barely) but the decal is too far gone to tell for sure. Congratulations!


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Thanks for the compliment. I'm definitely happy with the condition of the decal. For some reason it seems to be a really good from a distance looker. Almost like a "looks great from 15 feet" car paint haha

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Yeah a bit on the salty side but one in decent condition with an SS insignia would cost a hell of lot more!
 
There is no way to tell on these photos if the SS decal is original or not, but the newest trend in "ground dug" helmets is to apply a fake SS decal aged carefully to look like this. The diggers say there is so many ground dug SS helmets because they go to visit SS positions, but it's very suspicious in this condition they are mostly SS and we rarely see more complicated or common decal helmets on helmets in this condition. -Steve
 
There is no way to tell on these photos if the SS decal is original or not, but the newest trend in "ground dug" helmets is to apply a fake SS decal aged carefully to look like this. The diggers say there is so many ground dug SS helmets because they go to visit SS positions, but it's very suspicious in this condition they are mostly SS and we rarely see more complicated or common decal helmets on helmets in this condition. -Steve
Steve, thanks for looking! Fair enough, I supposed it could be a quick buck. At that point it's probably the same time or more time invested to age it and and a much larger profit margin to fake one in good condition. I can attempt to take better pictures on my Nikon, I just took a few quick snaps on my phone to give an idea of what I've picked up. If you/anyone is interested in trying to prove if it's real or not I'll definitely take better pictures

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Here's some "better" decal pictures. Still not great but definitely better than my phone.
 

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You need that laser/spacegun thingey they were using a few years back to examine SS decals.....LOL
 
"Forest Find" M40 SS Helmet

SS decals are the toughest of the toughest to verify. I’m no expert at all but I’d bet a good many lids with SS decals are given a thumbs down not because they’re necessarily incorrect but many “experts” just can’t determine positively that they are good or positively that they are bad. Here’s my supposed SS lid with remains of its decal. This one is just too hard to tell. Sure, it does look like the decal has been “exposed” in order to be better seen but that doesn’t make it an absolute bad one nor an absolute good one. The size and lot numbers on this one are clear to the eye and it does fall right in where a batch of SS helmets are. That’s still not 100%. So it is what it is (unproven to be good or bad) and was priced according and was the only one I was willing to spring for. I’m comfortable that it is legit but “experts” will have varying opinions.


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Have you posted this on any other forums that deal with original SS lids?
I bought it from WAF e-trader and no one made a thread about it. It was up for a decent bit I believe. The issue is tt really can't be "verified" to the helmet considering the oxidation covering the makere mark. If I get even better pictures of the decal and it can be said it is an original decal because of x, y, and it could still be argued it might not be original to the helmet. At the end of the day I bought the helmet because I liked how it looked and the decal is in decent shape comparatively. The guy I bought it from provided really close images from a borescope or something that showed the rust permeating through the decal. Maybe I can get this effect using a magnifying glass of some kind?

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SS decals are the toughest of the toughest to verify. I’m no expert at all but I’d bet a good many lids with SS decals are given a thumbs down not because they’re necessarily incorrect but many “experts” just can’t determine positively that they are good or positively that they are bad. Here’s my supposed SS lid with remains of its decal. This one is just too hard to tell. Sure, it does look like the decal has been “exposed” in order to be better seen but that doesn’t make it an absolute bad one nor an absolute good one. The size and lot numbers on this one are clear to the eye and it does fall right in where a batch of SS helmets are. That’s still not 100%. So it is what it is (unproven to be good or bad) and was priced according and was the only one I was willing to spring for. I’m comfortable that it is legit but “experts” will have varying opinions.


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That's a cool lid man! Yeah, the "experts" will always argue over stuff like this and I understand. It's a bit of a racket but I suppose there's so many fakes out there it's better for them to say "it can't be proven correct" and save face vs. leading someone into getting burned.

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For anyone curious about the SS-TV story, all he had to say was it was found 15-20 years ago outside Leningrad and the SS-TV were the only SS in that location. If anyone can prove or disprove that claim I'd like to hear!

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If the decal follows the contours of the rust pits you can be sure it was applied later. As the previous poster said, use a USB microscope or some other such magnifier to look more closely. From what I can see it looks like it was applied over the rust pits.
 
The presumption with anything SS is that it’s bad. The artifact must prove itself original. The SS artifact is never to be accepted as original unless proved fake. No artifact is.
 
To me the decal on the helmet that started this thread looks like a round bottom fake. Hard to say for sure from the pictures. All SS decals should have a break at the bottom border. Some fakes have a round transition of the border at the lowest point which gives them away.
Also liner is thorn, but not dried or rotten as it should be from the exposure if any left of it at all.

Jack
 

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