Condition: Excellent
Pattern: M40
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Product Description: This M40 SD SS Helmet is an attractive piece with a great “combat” look. It’s a textbook post-August 1943 reissue, with a coat of slightly textured field gray paint over the factory finish and decal. This reissue paint is about 85 percent present on the exterior of the shell. The paint shows wear from honest use with scattered marks, chips and scratches. Some of these chips reveal the original SS decal which can be seen peeking through the reissue paint. Inside, this M40 SD SS helmet retains the original liner and chin strap. There is a very nice dust ring between the liner band and the shell, and the liner retaining pins look like they have never been disturbed. The liner band is a correct wartime steel style. The liner is complete, with no torn fingers, and shows wear matching the exterior as well as normal age toning. The original draw string is present. The chin strap has been shortened, and retains 8 or the original 12 adjustment holes in the long end. The interior of the shell shows some wear and age, with corrosion in the dome. The size and aker stamp is obscured and not legible. The lot number is “745.” This is a rare chance to own a real SD SS helmet for a fraction of the price of a non-reissue. The condition rates as excellent.
Historical Description: When the German Army first marched into war in 1914, it went to the front lines wearing the traditional “Picklehaube” helmets. The war soon developed to necessitate the need for an improved headgear to protect the wearer. The German Army developed the M16 helmet in 1915 and began issuing it in mass quantity to its fighting troops in 1916. The M16 underwent changes to bring about the next model, the M18. Both the M16 and M18 saw use by the German Army during WW1, as well as the interwar years by the Reichswehr and Freikorps. In 1931, a new liner system was developed. The M16 and M18 helmets were in mass supply right up to the time the Nazi Party took control of the German government. During Adolf Hitler’s rearming of the German military in the early 1930’s, the M16 and M18 helmets saw extensive refitting with the newer liner system, fresh paint, and the addition of a centralized decal system for the newly formed Wehrmacht’s respective branches. Decals were generally placed on each side of the helmet, one side being the branch and the other the national colors shield or party shield. In 1935, the M35 helmet was introduced. This new design was lighter and more streamlined than the older style helmets and is what the world now recognizes as the iconic helmet of the German Military. M35 helmets can most easily be identified from the separate rivet ventholes and rolled edges. With the outbreak of war, some changes were made to bring in a new model, the M40. The changes made to this new model was the use of a more matte field grey finish and the vent holes were now integral to the helmets shell. In 1940, the national colors decals and party shields were ordered to be removed. It should be noted that many M35 helmets were brought up to date by repainting them with the matte field grey finish and/or other modifications if necessary. These refitted helmets are what collectors now term “reissue helmets”. The next model helmet to evolve was the M42. The model M42 has the same features of the M40 with the exception of the edges of the helmet not being rolled and remain flared. This was to speed up production and lower cost as the war dragged on and the German economy began changing to a total war economy. In 1943 all decals were ordered to be removed from combat helmets.
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