Hello all,
Thank you Chas for your observations on the wappen Plate.
Also thanks to Joe for his very detailed disection of the dreaded helmet.
I got so fed up with it all, I pulled the whole thing apart. This is the first time in 26 years or so that the guts have seen the light of day.
Well the wappen plate is smaller (as Chas surmised), than the big one on the other helmet, which has been stated as correct . It is 11cm wide and about 10 cms high.
It appears very old. Bearing in mind when it was purchased and how little I paid for it, I just cannot see anyone going to the bother of faking the plate. It would demand much input of time, labour and money for little if no return. That is not a German trait ! I paid about DM 160 for the Helmet at a time when the D Mark was about between 5 & 7 to the £. So at worst the thing cost me about 30 quid or $60 in your money now. Only a lunatic would spend time and effort to "make " a plate, when these plates were readily available loose. If only I knew then, what I now know !!!!
Joe, reference your reservations about the authenticity of the spike and its base. Once off, I could see that it looked ancient indeed when viewed from the underside. There appeared to be a Copper ring around the hole in the bottem of the spike base. I got to work with the Brasso and once cleaned ( sort of ) I could make our the following inscription stampted around the ring..." AWES Marke IL69 (partialy off true so difficult to read) M (possibly E) S as in " MES" or" MS" BERLIN. How about that for a find ! The perlring scrubbed up very well with a tooothbrush and is now much more defined and clearer. I think that the problem you had , was more to do with my bad photograghy, than the perlring itself. I also noted that the base has a cutaway for the rear spine to fit under, which the other helmets base does not. The whole thing just has this "feel" of being much older than one may first think. The spike has only 2 vent holes. Around the base ring in the most beutifull small engraving like a little rope design. This is similar, but maybe not quite identical to, the design around the spike. What thoughts on this do you have?
(This may also be a case for Tony and Kaiser to worry a bone about !)
I also dicovered that the chinscales which are identical outwardly, are different on the inside! The whole thing just seems to get worse and more complicated . Perhaps I should cut my losses and chuck the whole lot in the bin and move on.
Regards
Jock
Thank you Chas for your observations on the wappen Plate.
Also thanks to Joe for his very detailed disection of the dreaded helmet.
I got so fed up with it all, I pulled the whole thing apart. This is the first time in 26 years or so that the guts have seen the light of day.
Well the wappen plate is smaller (as Chas surmised), than the big one on the other helmet, which has been stated as correct . It is 11cm wide and about 10 cms high.
It appears very old. Bearing in mind when it was purchased and how little I paid for it, I just cannot see anyone going to the bother of faking the plate. It would demand much input of time, labour and money for little if no return. That is not a German trait ! I paid about DM 160 for the Helmet at a time when the D Mark was about between 5 & 7 to the £. So at worst the thing cost me about 30 quid or $60 in your money now. Only a lunatic would spend time and effort to "make " a plate, when these plates were readily available loose. If only I knew then, what I now know !!!!
Joe, reference your reservations about the authenticity of the spike and its base. Once off, I could see that it looked ancient indeed when viewed from the underside. There appeared to be a Copper ring around the hole in the bottem of the spike base. I got to work with the Brasso and once cleaned ( sort of ) I could make our the following inscription stampted around the ring..." AWES Marke IL69 (partialy off true so difficult to read) M (possibly E) S as in " MES" or" MS" BERLIN. How about that for a find ! The perlring scrubbed up very well with a tooothbrush and is now much more defined and clearer. I think that the problem you had , was more to do with my bad photograghy, than the perlring itself. I also noted that the base has a cutaway for the rear spine to fit under, which the other helmets base does not. The whole thing just has this "feel" of being much older than one may first think. The spike has only 2 vent holes. Around the base ring in the most beutifull small engraving like a little rope design. This is similar, but maybe not quite identical to, the design around the spike. What thoughts on this do you have?
(This may also be a case for Tony and Kaiser to worry a bone about !)
I also dicovered that the chinscales which are identical outwardly, are different on the inside! The whole thing just seems to get worse and more complicated . Perhaps I should cut my losses and chuck the whole lot in the bin and move on.
Regards
Jock
