GERMAN EARLY WAR M35 DOUBLE DECAL WAFFEN SS HELMET

Shell Size: 68 (Large)

Beautifully made to looks original with slight aging. Your friends you invite over will think it is the real McCoy.

This is great representation of early war Germany and the advent of the standardized Waffen-SS decals whereby the swastika party shield and SS-runes were adopted in 1935 to be used by all SS units serving in the Reich. A Waffen-SS DD helmet is considered to be the holy grail among German helmet collectors and will range in value somewhere between $10,00-$15.000 for an original and that's only if you can get your hands on one. The vast majority of them are complete post war fakes being passed off as originals, so here's your chance to purchase an authentic post-war reproduction done in the exact same style as the originals. Although costly to produce the M35 model was welcomed by German soldiers as a light weight more modern alternative to the older M18 bulky design In this particular example. Using an exact copy of the M35 design complete with a rolled rim and separate air vents as well as the exact weight of roughly 4lbs for greater authenticity.

The helmet has the exact same paint colors which was referred to at the time as "Apfelgrun" (apple green) which is actually borrowed from the European color system referred to as RAL and in this case is RAL code 6003 for Apple Green. So the paint color is a dead on match as is the reflectivity of the paint which at the time was a semi-gloss as was done here in this museum quality post war reproduction.

The SS and Swastika Party Shield decals were always applied using a a face-up water transfer medium and then a natural lacquer resin applied to seal in the decal and edges, often leaving a small brown glue edge around each decal. This was done in this restoration to make the decals appear as close to the originals as possible. In this particular helmet, great care was given to making sure that the decal looks the part and has been aged and discoloured to accurately match the outside paint. The SS decal is not your typical paper repro but is made from a silver foil alloy just like the originals were and so has some slight reflectivity and then further aged to simulate the natural discoloration process.

For more information about the M1935 Helmet check out our blog.