Robert said:
Hello Robert:
I have every reason to suspect "uk-militaria-ltd," is an alias for "military-bargains-uk." Both list Nottingham as their location, both have comparable feedback percentages, both use the same styrofoam head to display headdress, and both offer a lot of stuff I wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole (present item included).
Once again, I urge everyone to use the UK based "goofbay" to check the negative feedback received by or left by sellers like these. With goofbay, there is no need to scroll through page after page of feedback just to find the negative comments. For example:
http://www.goofbay.com/getFeedback.html?fb_username=uk-militaria-ltd&submit=Received+By
http://www.goofbay.com/getFeedback.html?fb_username=military-bargains-uk&submit=Received+By
Now, back to the helmet in question. Why would an Ersatz Mannschaften helmet have a label inside for the
Deutscher Offizier-Verein? D.O.V. were a distributor of extremely high quality accoutrement for private purchase, and I sincerely doubt they would offer anything as crude as this (especially as they did not sell Mannschaften helmets). Also, note that modern hex nut below the label. Why is the spike not the correct fluted style?
Furthermore, look closely at the brad retaining the visor trim in this picture:
I have encountered this completely incorrect assembly on dozens of suspect helmets cropping up in the UK, but I have yet to see it on any original Pickelhaube.
So what do we have here? A lot of inconsistencies, like the rear spine you mentioned, adding up to something brown on the sidewalk and bad smelling on a hot day.
Oh, and for the record, these are merely my opinions.
Chas.
