Brown M42 Helmet ckl66 #3506 for Review

[MegaSquirt]

I like posting this helmet in forums because it gets so many different opinions.

I bought this a little while ago from Brian Ice. It is an interesting M42 Helmet, ckl66 Lot number 3506, produced from the Thale Factory in Brown. This is the helmet that Brian made the entry for in the lot number book so if you look up the number this is the exact helmet described. It is also featured on the back cover and in his book "Late war Helmets of the third reich Thale." This is an interesting helmet. The Brown Color was a special order mainly produced by the Thale Factory. This helmet was possibly used by a late war SA / Feldherrnhalle unit. It is near mint with complete intact liner, RBnr chinstrap and even a dome stamp. A member of another forum has its twin with the same lot number but it is a Feldherrnhalle double decal helmet. Apparently the decals were applied at the unit level and not at the factory. So mine was just unlucky and never received decals. Either way a rare piece that will stay in my collection for a long time.

Most people will argue that this helmet is not painted brown from the factory. That it is overpainted and repurposed. There are absolutely no signs of it being any other color other then brown.

Any comments will be greatly appreciated!

 

[iron bender]

Appears repainted to me. If the dome stamp is original, it is sitting over the current paint job, which would make me think repurposed. I know nothing of the SA, other than they basically ceased to exist in the early 40's. I'd be surprised if they had sway or money to get a bulk of helmets late in the war. Your helmet is an interesting variation for sure. FYI I know nothing about 3R helmets but a few details. This could 100% be a helmet issued to a member of SA. I would have a hard time seeing it as such.

I'd like to add that I see this as a wartime helmet as it sits. My guess that it is a repaint is because of the apparent paint chips under the current paint. Being in the iron business, this is not scale on the sheet iron. The process of stamping these shells would not allow scale to stay as shown.

 

[Jim's Militaria]

Good factory brown FHH / SA helmet from the same lot as other known originals. There are a few of these from that lot out there.

 

[jack944]

Good

That is a textbook brownie...as said above fits into Brian Ice's lot study.