M.35 Lw. green/brown overpaint over tan camo overpaint

[Hambone]

M.35 SE 66 Luftwaffe, tan overpainted, and green/brown brush stroked camo over that. My experience has been that paint jobs like this chip off, they don't wear like a factory or many sprayed finishes. It looks like under the camo paint brush strokes the tan and underlying parade finish was brushed. I have another with the same brown, same brush stroked paint over tan which is LPN to a flak unit that was in Sicily, then So. France, and fought a retreat up to the Ruhr pocket where it surrendered. I'm cool with any criticism, etc., if it helps us. I personally like it and the price was reasonable, the seller a good guy and also member here from England.

 

[KSH67]

I like it. Clearly not sexy enough for most though, probably why it sat unsold, but I bet 10+ humped colorful camo's sold while it sat.

 

[Hambone]

Yep. Many of my camos are "ugly" like this. I don't think German soldiers were worried much about winning awards for art and the "Most Exotic Freshie"

 

[timothy]

Looks nice Ham only real one I owned was a hand dabbed blotch lightly done in the tropical tannish paint there was some of the pinkish tan on it also I got it from N Afrika vet that was a medic. I only have a couple of plain Jane ones now. I still like looking at different ones some people get plum silly with cammo your classic example WAF. timothy

 

[jack944]

Nice find

Reminds me of a girl I went out with....not quite a looker, but real...


You would have to work hard to fake one this ugly. I like these layered finish lids..you have to fake several things to be correct.

 

[Bigdibbs88]

hmmmm that chipping paint looks like unnatural wear

kidding, thats a great helmet. Wish i had seen it!

 

[Hambone]

Tks guys. It's not that I seek out worn and ugly helmets, it is just that it seems those are the ones I feel most comfortable with regarding originality. I'd feel the same about this helmet if it had 70% less wear. When you look at it close, I don't know how it could be faked without crazy significant effort, and even then, the "wear" would look like it all happened at the same time as opposed to gradually over several years of being worn, carried, or banging around hanging from an AFV, truck, or pack. Look at this close you can see the wear is consistent all the way through to the factory base coat. You can also see that the tan was scrubbed or brushed a bit before it was green/brown brush overpainted.

Now, the question becomes, what would this helmet look like if it was camo painted, then hung on a hook in a bunker, not worn or used, and then souvenired and left alone for 70 years?

 

[M45]

-Now, the question becomes, what would this helmet look like if it was camo painted, then hung on a hook in a bunker, not worn or used, and then souvenired and left alone for 70 years?

I believe this is one of the lynch-pins of questionable camos; many are very much like you describe. Extremely unlikely IMO. The exotic freshie fans look at them as if they were gold-plated inscribed commemorative Super Bowl victory plates, something created for a special purpose and then given the white glove treatment all the way from the 1944 era drying rack to the 2017 helmet forum/dealer website, and the condition of some of these suggests just that.

While modern collectors may handle their rare helmets with white gloves, I can assure you that period front line camo helmets saw quite the opposite kind of treatment, daily use banging around in vehicles or concrete defenses to being thrown into capture piles to be picked up and packed in rough duffle bags for the long boat home and then all of the post war handling since to today.

I just do not see the time machine scenario as a rational, reasonable possibility, especially when every 4th exotic freshie has a pristine conditioned finish.

 

[Hambone]

That's generally why I prefer helmets showing actual, believable wear and age. Not just any wear and age, but the random kind that doesn't look like all the wear was created by someone rubbing it in a pile of gravel and leaving it outside after misting it with salt water, or putting it in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes to craze the paint, or rubbing around the rim or rubbing on the visor to create the "secret wear mark" that the WAFbigwigs use to "authenticate" helmets. A helmet that shows random wear after being worn, banged about, carried, affixed to a pack, tank, AFV, or truck and hauled around for several years just looks different from the humped wear lids I see and waftarded "exotic freshies" I see. I do not believe the "exotic freshie" is a unicorn, but I do believe it more like a Red Crested Tree Rat.