M1916 double decal oddity

W

wawine

New member
On the surface, I know that everything about this helmet is dead wrong, but the story behind it is interesting enough to pose some serious questions. It was brought back by a US Army Ranger in the mid 90's who was doing a tour in Germany shortly after the fall of the wall. He bought it as seen, with decals but no liner at a rummage sale on the previously 'eastern' part of Germany for the total of about $5 US. He brought it home, glued a 'skull bucket' inside and wore it while riding his Harley. I bought it from him in about 2000 for $25 as a piece of folk art. However, it did get me thinking. We have all see the 'fantasy' 'SS Skull' decal since the 1970's, but how did one end up in Eastern Germany? If a neo-Nazi was going to take the risk of importing one from the west to make up this helmet, wouldn't they also have painted it black? If you were going to do that, wouldn't you also need a liner? It seems like a lot of effort and risk to take, to only do it part way. It obviously was not done to make money, considering the price it sold for. This also got me thnking about these decals. Has anybody ever seen evidence of why this design was used for this fantasy decal? The others designs made by these folks are fairly good copies, so why was this skull used to duplicate an 'SS' design when there are plenty of images of 'SS' and 'Panzer' skulls to be found? I find it curious that a skull lacking the mandible, much like the lancer and hussars skulls was used. Is it possible that there was actually a 'cavalry' style decal on the other side of the wall that was previously unknown until the wall came down? Even if the vet was totally full of hooey and made the whole story up as well as made up the whole helmet, why did he not paint it black, like all other Harley goodies? Thoughts?
thanks,
ebayjune001.jpg


thanks,
Doug
http://s1168.photobucket.com/albums/r489/dedreckoning1/1916%20helmet/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 
This is one that may never be answered. But a couple of things... who said the helmet was imported to East Germany? It could have been there the whole time, and while it wasn't as vibrant as in the west during the Cold War there were some collectors in East Germany, Czechoslovakia and other Communist bloc countries that had better economies.

And it could be as you say based on a hussar insignia, or it was just a bad fantasy decal. There are so many really bad decals you have to wonder what people were thinking.
 
Thanks for the input. The helmet probably was in Germany the whole time, it was the import of the decal that I was referring to. Most came out of Japan and the west in those years, so for a collector or neo-Nazi to get what was a very illegal set of decals into Eastern Germany in those days, would have taken some effort. The root of my inquiry was based on how much effort would one go through to get these fantasy decals, if they were not going to finish the job, or see a monetary return. My odd ball theory was that maybe there was some Hussar/Cavalry decal that really did exist in that part of Germany originally, and that was what these fantasy decals were based on, thus giving rise to the possibilty, admittedy extremely remotely, that this may be a period correct piece of some sort.
 
wawine said:
Thanks for the input. The helmet probably was in Germany the whole time, it was the import of the decal that I was referring to. Most came out of Japan and the west in those years, so for a collector or neo-Nazi to get what was a very illegal set of decals into Eastern Germany in those days, would have taken some effort. The root of my inquiry was based on how much effort would one go through to get these fantasy decals, if they were not going to finish the job, or see a monetary return. My odd ball theory was that maybe there was some Hussar/Cavalry decal that really did exist in that part of Germany originally, and that was what these fantasy decals were based on, thus giving rise to the possibilty, admittedy extremely remotely, that this may be a period correct piece of some sort.
Click to expand...

There was no hussar or cavalry decal. And honestly mailing a letter into East Germany wouldn't have been that much of a problem. So effort wouldn't be a problem, and there is still a chance this decal was printed in East Germany anyway, or applied to the helmet in between the time the wall came down and the soldier supposedly bought it. The effort wouldn't really have all that great.

There was no real "neo-Nazi" movement in East Germany, but I also don't believe the Nazi images were banned as much as they were in West Germany and are today banned in reunited Germany. But perhaps you're looking at this the wrong way. Perhaps someone wanted to display a helmet but didn't want the actual SS runes, which might have been frowned upon, so the skull and crossbones, which don't even look quite right might have seemed more acceptable.
 
agreed that the pot is WW1, but the paint looks interwar, possibly Bulgarian to me. What makes the paint look post war to you? The decals are a big questions, which is why I made the post. I do think it is worthy of at least a look or two, even if it is a post WW1 set up as a lot of relevent history took place after November 11, 1918.
thanks,
Doug
 
I'd listen to Jerry, he's very knowledgeable.

I'd go as far as to say the paint and decal came from the 1960's or 1970's, since the paint looks like a typical green spray can color and the decals were readily available starting at that time. Perhaps this was just a fun helmet for the owner, something for the shelf or motorcycle. Still is fun, isn't it?

:D Ron
 
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