We have talked a bit about fakes in various genres of militaria here. This past weekend a dealer/collector friend of mine gave me this supposed Hessn M95 to put back together. Upon closer inspection ie taking off the fittings etc. and examining the shell it became obvious that this was a primo example of a fireman haube (war surplus) that had been converted back to a more valuable helmet with the addition of some original pieces and a great deal of flim flam! I would also emphasize here that my friend was also at fault here....if he had known his hauben, he never would have parted with $800 for this 10 yrs ago. He knew about extra holes behind the wappen as not being good, but the seller told him that this particular Hessen Regt had lost its bandeau and thus the extra holes. By the way, there are 4 extra plugged holes here....2 above the present wappen holes and 2 below. If anyone has heard of any Hessen regt losing its right to carry the bandeau, let me know. Besides any Hessen bandeau except for JR115 in my experience does not require extra holes in the shell. Here is a pic showing the supposed Hessen M95:
By the way, the spike and wappen are original but lets look at the back of the wappen:
Wappen problems....obviously the screw posts have been moved so that this plate will fit the shell. Another problem...the screw posts do not match. The right one is original and coarse thread, the left is fine thread and probably modern. Hmm could there be a problem with this?? One last thing regarding the reservist cross on the front....it is Prussian not Hessen as the motto is incorrect for Hesse. Now we are going to look at a faked Hesen spine. Some Hessen spines are unique in some ways because to be legit they need 2 round split brads to to hold down the spine to the shell. If you must have this on your firemans helmet, how to fake it?
Lets look at the spine from the helme:
This was once an original OR spine however, the tip of it has been cut off and cut to V shape to fit under the cruciform spike base. See the solder remains up by the V. Obviously, the top hole for the second brad has also been crudely cut by hand. This brad in fact was made from a brass tack. They cut off part of its spike and soldered on a modern hollow screw as a post. The solder broke revealing this as I removed the brad from the spine. The lower brad, although you can not see it, shows evidence of having been glued to the spine. Totally false!
Now lets look at the problems and evidence from the shell. Here is a pic of the typical firemans comb that was retrofitted to many war surplus hauben including this one:
Mine does not fit this shell but it is very close. This comb always leaves distinctive marks in the top of the shell, it depresses it and causes it to bulge up a bit. This can not be removed without some serious effort. In this case they may have moistened that area of the shell and then pulled it down over a head form. At the vey least, they sanded the outside marks off and then sprayed a plastic like liquid over the top of the shell to hide things. The application of the comb, also requires extra holes and an enlargement of 2 of the spike base holes (ALWAYS!!) A pic of the top of the helmet:
Unfortunately, we can not see the imprint of the comb very well but this can be seen with the helmet in hand. There are also 2 extra small holes at the ends of two of the cross piece tips. These have filled in when sprayed. A common brass spike base does not line up with all of these holes so God knows what this was originally punched out for??
Now for the interior and its problems:
What do we see?? Improper M91 posts with weird brass prongs folded back, evidence of the tin support washer but its gone. Both of these side posts turn completely around on the side of the shell. Newer strips of leather re enforcements on the sides. Many of these fire helmets had the posts taken off, they used silver officer style split prong bosses to hold on a leather non military chin strap. The other reason for these is that the shell is split on both sides where these have been sewen. I believe that that is why these strips were added when the new liner was put in.
The liner:
Not dyed black as pre M15's were. Looks very new and little used compared to the rest of the shell which is dark from use and has multiple extra holes. This does not compute either. The liner is typical post war fire helmet. More to come when we look at the kokarden, screws,washers and spike support disc.
PS...Just noticed this on the interior shell foto at the top. You can see the imprint of the large Fire comb washers in the 2 large holes...more evidence of what this helme really was.
Ok some pics of the fasteners and the spike base support disc:
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The fasteners are obviously a mixture of modern and originals. The spike base disc although the proper size for a Hessen helme is full of extra holes. Two of these have obviously been punched in by hand and they are the ones used to hold the spike on. In total, there are 13 problems with this helmet that make it an obvious fake.
By the way, the spike and wappen are original but lets look at the back of the wappen:
Wappen problems....obviously the screw posts have been moved so that this plate will fit the shell. Another problem...the screw posts do not match. The right one is original and coarse thread, the left is fine thread and probably modern. Hmm could there be a problem with this?? One last thing regarding the reservist cross on the front....it is Prussian not Hessen as the motto is incorrect for Hesse. Now we are going to look at a faked Hesen spine. Some Hessen spines are unique in some ways because to be legit they need 2 round split brads to to hold down the spine to the shell. If you must have this on your firemans helmet, how to fake it?
Lets look at the spine from the helme:
This was once an original OR spine however, the tip of it has been cut off and cut to V shape to fit under the cruciform spike base. See the solder remains up by the V. Obviously, the top hole for the second brad has also been crudely cut by hand. This brad in fact was made from a brass tack. They cut off part of its spike and soldered on a modern hollow screw as a post. The solder broke revealing this as I removed the brad from the spine. The lower brad, although you can not see it, shows evidence of having been glued to the spine. Totally false!
Now lets look at the problems and evidence from the shell. Here is a pic of the typical firemans comb that was retrofitted to many war surplus hauben including this one:
Mine does not fit this shell but it is very close. This comb always leaves distinctive marks in the top of the shell, it depresses it and causes it to bulge up a bit. This can not be removed without some serious effort. In this case they may have moistened that area of the shell and then pulled it down over a head form. At the vey least, they sanded the outside marks off and then sprayed a plastic like liquid over the top of the shell to hide things. The application of the comb, also requires extra holes and an enlargement of 2 of the spike base holes (ALWAYS!!) A pic of the top of the helmet:
Unfortunately, we can not see the imprint of the comb very well but this can be seen with the helmet in hand. There are also 2 extra small holes at the ends of two of the cross piece tips. These have filled in when sprayed. A common brass spike base does not line up with all of these holes so God knows what this was originally punched out for??
Now for the interior and its problems:
What do we see?? Improper M91 posts with weird brass prongs folded back, evidence of the tin support washer but its gone. Both of these side posts turn completely around on the side of the shell. Newer strips of leather re enforcements on the sides. Many of these fire helmets had the posts taken off, they used silver officer style split prong bosses to hold on a leather non military chin strap. The other reason for these is that the shell is split on both sides where these have been sewen. I believe that that is why these strips were added when the new liner was put in.
The liner:
Not dyed black as pre M15's were. Looks very new and little used compared to the rest of the shell which is dark from use and has multiple extra holes. This does not compute either. The liner is typical post war fire helmet. More to come when we look at the kokarden, screws,washers and spike support disc.
PS...Just noticed this on the interior shell foto at the top. You can see the imprint of the large Fire comb washers in the 2 large holes...more evidence of what this helme really was.
Ok some pics of the fasteners and the spike base support disc:
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The fasteners are obviously a mixture of modern and originals. The spike base disc although the proper size for a Hessen helme is full of extra holes. Two of these have obviously been punched in by hand and they are the ones used to hold the spike on. In total, there are 13 problems with this helmet that make it an obvious fake.
