Best find of the year so far!

Dane Jensen

Dane Jensen

Well-known member
Hello all, well, I’ve found something pretty spectacular!

At long last I’ve finally added a genuine camo Stahlhelm, I believe it to be Austrian with an Ersatz style chinstrap.

IMG_3814.jpegIMG_3815.jpegIMG_3816.jpeg

There also a stamp on the inner brim, I believe the helmet was sent back to the factory during the war.

IMG_3817.jpeg

I’m so very happy with this find, especially since my other camo Stahlhelm turned out to be false paint.
 
The chinstrap is curious, as the helmet is not Austrian, no Austrian helmets were produced (to my knowledge) with the lower mounted chinstrap lugs. I'd be interested to hear other opinions.
 
Austria purchased from Germany a first supply of M17s that arrived in the feldgrau color and with the typical k91 attachment.
The Austrians, to make them uniform and adapt them to their hemp chinstrap, produced this metal adapter with the hemp chinstrap.
Very interesting. It could have been added to this helmet that has a camouflage that is certainly not Austrian and therefore does not seem to have operated on the south-eastern front.
 
This model is first used by the k.u.k Army in 1916. There are 3 different types of chinstrap and what Dan showed is one of the correct types. I am not sure if the liner shd have reinforced eyelets as I am too lazy to go and retrieve my few helmets of same configuration stored in a storage facility.

Dan has gotten a good deal. Here is one of the pics that I have found in my research folder

Congrats Dan

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Amybellars said:
Ce modèle est utilisé pour la première fois par l'armée kuk en 1916. Il existe 3 types différents de jugulaires et ce que Dan a montré est l'un des bons types. Je ne suis pas sûr que la doublure doive avoir des œillets renforcés car je suis trop paresseux pour aller récupérer mes quelques casques de même configuration stockés dans un entrepôt.

Dan a fait une bonne affaire. Voici l'une des photos que j'ai trouvées dans mon dossier de recherche

Félicitations Dan

View attachment 56367
Click to expand...
What is "KUK" ????
 
Hi Dane ,

The shoestring is definitely not period, of that I'm 100% certain. ;)

It could be my eyes in the morning, and I hope to be totally wrong, but the color of the camouflage does not look period done and is applied too thin to my eyes. That is just my first impression and from what I see the liner retainer bolts also don't match the color of the camo which most likely means the liner was also added later.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, so I'd gladly be wrong.

Camo Helmets are without a doubt one of the most faked items that insnare both young and old collectors. I see them sell just about daily on ebay.

There are literally 100's of reproductions to every real one. When you do see a real one all the helmet collectors will gladly pay thousands and will fight to add it to their collections.

Finding one in this condition for 750 bucks would be like hitting the lottery, if you see one on ebay and there are watchers and not buyers that would be a good sign to stay away. That is sign that many collectors have passed and are just curious to see if and what it will sell for.

Like I said Dane, I hope I'm wrong but without having it in hand we have a limited time to make a decision, and you must go with what your gut is telling you and rely on your experience of many years. I'd be curious to see what others say. I wish you the best. (y)(y)


Here is what you're looking for notice the colors and thickness of the paints by comparison. They were not painted with fine brushes and thin paint and the paints had a much different makeup 110 years ago. There were many variants to be sure best to try and look in museums and books were known originals are and soak it in.

camo1.jpeg
 
John Josef said:
Salut Danois,

Le cordon n'est certainement pas d'époque, j'en suis sûr à 100 %.;)

Ce pourrait être mes yeux le matin, et j'espère me tromper totalement, mais la couleur du camouflage ne semble pas d'époque et est appliquée trop finement sur mes yeux. Ce n'est que ma première impression et d'après ce que je vois, les boulons de fixation de la doublure ne correspondant pas non plus à la couleur du camouflage, ce qui signifie très probablement que la doublure a également été ajoutée plus tard.

Je déteste être porteur de mauvaises nouvelles, alors je serais heureux d'avoir tort.

Les casques de camouflage ne sont sans doute aucun l'un des articles les plus contrefaits qui piègent les collectionneurs jeunes et moins jeunes. Je les vois se vendre presque tous les jours sur eBay.

Il existe littéralement des centaines de reproductions pour chaque vrai modèle. Lorsque vous en voyez un vrai, tous les collectionneurs de casques paieront volontiers des milliers de dollars et se battront pour l'ajouter à leur collection.

En trouver un dans cet état pour 750 dollars serait comme gagner à la loterie, si vous en voyez un sur eBay et qu'il ya des observateurs et non des acheteurs, ce serait un bon signe pour rester à l'écart. C'est le signe que de nombreux collectionneurs sont passés et sont simplement curieux de voir si et à quel prix il se vendra.

Comme je l'ai dit Dane, j'espère me tromper, mais sans l'avoir en main, nous avons un temps limité pour prendre une décision, et tu dois suivre ce que ton instinct te dit et te fier à ton expérience de plusieurs années. Je serais curieux de voir ce que les autres disent. Je te souhaite le meilleur.(y)(y)


Voici ce que vous recherchez, remarquez les couleurs et l'épaisseur des peintures en comparaison. Elles n'étaient pas peintes avec des pinceaux fins et de la peinture fine et les peintures avaient une composition très différente il y a 110 ans. Il y avait de nombreuses variantes, il vaut mieux essayer de regarder dans les musées et les livres où se trouvent les originaux connus et de s'imprégner de l'œuvre.

View attachment 56383
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When I started collecting in 1976 you rarely saw them, now you see them everywhere. I have made a number of these myself in the past, for my business.However, I admit that we can find quite surprising camouflage colors
00987H.jpgCapture d'écran 2025-02-23 161817.png


3 pages taken from my book: War paints
 
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Hmmmmm looks like I may be seeking a refund here in the next few days 😅

Luckily I can return it for full value if things don’t turn out well for this one,
 
John Josef said:
Hi Dane ,

The shoestring is definitely not period, of that I'm 100% certain. ;)

It could be my eyes in the morning, and I hope to be totally wrong, but the color of the camouflage does not look period done and is applied too thin to my eyes. That is just my first impression and from what I see the liner retainer bolts also don't match the color of the camo which most likely means the liner was also added later.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, so I'd gladly be wrong.

Camo Helmets are without a doubt one of the most faked items that insnare both young and old collectors. I see them sell just about daily on ebay.

There are literally 100's of reproductions to every real one. When you do see a real one all the helmet collectors will gladly pay thousands and will fight to add it to their collections.

Finding one in this condition for 750 bucks would be like hitting the lottery, if you see one on ebay and there are watchers and not buyers that would be a good sign to stay away. That is sign that many collectors have passed and are just curious to see if and what it will sell for.

Like I said Dane, I hope I'm wrong but without having it in hand we have a limited time to make a decision, and you must go with what your gut is telling you and rely on your experience of many years. I'd be curious to see what others say. I wish you the best. (y)(y)


Here is what you're looking for notice the colors and thickness of the paints by comparison. They were not painted with fine brushes and thin paint and the paints had a much different makeup 110 years ago. There were many variants to be sure best to try and look in museums and books were known originals are and soak it in.

View attachment 56383
Click to expand...

Aye, no doubt on the luck portion. I purchased this piece from a local store, the War front down in Kirkland Washington.

I’ve purchased many helmets from them before so I’m usually really trusting of them, though I usually buy Pickelhauben from them.

The woman who runs the store has it listed at $1,500, but since I just came back and I’m a regular, + my birthday. she gave me an attractive offer, hence the price I bought it for.

The Gut instinct is very real, personally, it wasn’t screaming out fake or repainted when I had it in hand, I’d rather have it and check then miss it and it be real. And since I can return it, it is also helpful.

I do hope that it turns out to be real, but if I have too, I can always return it, won’t be the first time 🤣
 
Dane Jensen said:
Aye, no doubt on the luck portion. I purchased this piece from a local store, the War front down in Kirkland Washington.

I’ve purchased many helmets from them before so I’m usually really trusting of them, though I usually buy Pickelhauben from them.

The woman who runs the store has it listed at $1,500, but since I just came back and I’m a regular, + my birthday. she gave me an attractive offer, hence the price I bought it for.

The Gut instinct is very real, personally, it wasn’t screaming out fake or repainted when I had it in hand, I’d rather have it and check then miss it and it be real. And since I can return it, it is also helpful.

I do hope that it turns out to be real, but if I have too, I can always return it, won’t be the first time 🤣
Click to expand...
Also, they didn’t even have the helmet in the store for 48 hours before I came in, I was the first to find, they were in the process of researching it and determined that it was refitted at some point during the war, possibly solving the liner and bolts question.

I can get better photos of the inside as well,
 
I'm not a fan of the camo job I'm afraid.

I don't like the colours. The redish brown should have a more reddish hue. I'd expect to see some yellow ochre and the black lines were supposed to be "a finger width" I know. "How wide is a finger?" These just strike me as too thin.

I'm also used to seeing some striations in the black paint as John Josef mentioned above, the paint used was thicker than this paint which shows no texture at all.
 
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