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Vietnam marines M1 with graffiti that made a brief appearance on eBay


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I found this m1 on eBay a couple weeks back. I discovered the listing while it was still active, but someone beat me to the purchase by only a few seconds! When I clicked BIN the page refreshed and it was sold. Hopefully someone on this forum got it. Anyways, I downloaded the pictures off eBay and will post them here because it's just such a cool lid that I think many on this forum will appreciate.

post-153820-0-31203600-1522198244_thumb.jpg

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Cap Camouflage Pattern I

The sweatband looks like it has seen some hard use, but the suspension looks very clean. The fact that the liner says 1969-1970 while the cover is a 1959 is also weird. The fact that the liner is dated at all is a little weird itself. I'm not saying that it is fake, just a little strange, but that makes me uncomfortable.

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ArchangelDM

The Grafitti is spot on and exactly what you want to see, looks like his blood type on the right O negative.

 

I really like this one

 

Also as to him personalizing his liner on the front I think that just adds to the whole rig - if someone did some digging and could put his tour in Vietnam to 69-70 that would be something else.

 

As for the 59er my Metsker Helmet is a 59er camo and he served late 1960s so nothing strange there. His helmet is a front seam swivel bail, late WW2

 

Yours

Dean

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I am by no means a collector of VN era helmets or covers. What I would be looking at is the corrosion of the rim that would've transferred to the cover, I don't see alot if any on the shell in the photos. It also appears that a sweatband was attached to the nape due to the wrinkled webbing and missing nape strap, that could've been moved but I don't any evidence of the corrosion you see on the clips. These are my observations, along with the previous posts as well.

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Cammobunker

While all the parts are OK, I believe this helmet to be a put-together. The cover has obviously been on several helmets and seen some serious service as is evident from the wear patterns. That's to be expected; these were simply re-used in-country until they wore out. The helmet shell itself seems very clean and not at all abused. The rim particularly seems awfully nice, as has been pointed out above. The headband absolutely does not match the rest of the suspension, which is not at all dirty and has not seen serious use. I would bet the headband came from a liner with rotten suspension and significant corrosion to the A washers.

It's awfully easy to manufacture a "Vietnam used" helmet from random used parts but if the wear does not match, then what you have is a bucket of parts. I'd say the cover saw service there but the other parts I'm highly skeptical of ever serving together. The writing on the front of the liner especially makes my antennae twitch-it's just weird. Might be authentic, might not. The cover is the best part of this helmet and is a nice piece on its own merits.

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stealthytyler

The shell would be protected by the cover so its condition does not bother me at all. The wear you see on the brim of the cover and the rear of the cover looks to be made by the liner chinstrap and shell chinstraps, not a different helmet. The suspension and leather sweatband looks good to me. The sweatband clips would show more signs of corrosion than the a-washers due to being exposed to sweat.

 

I have seen combat used helmets that look to be in excellent condition. Not every soldier/marine/airman/sailor in a war zone lives every day and night on combat patrols.

 

All that being said, it is possible this was pieced together. Really no way to be 100% either way.

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Cap Camouflage Pattern I

The shell would be protected by the cover so its condition does not bother me at all. The wear you see on the brim of the cover and the rear of the cover looks to be made by the liner chinstrap and shell chinstraps, not a different helmet. The suspension and leather sweatband looks good to me. The sweatband clips would show more signs of corrosion than the a-washers due to being exposed to sweat.

 

I have seen combat used helmets that look to be in excellent condition. Not every soldier/marine/airman/sailor in a war zone lives every day and night on combat patrols.

 

All that being said, it is possible this was pieced together. Really no way to be 100% either way.

The shell doesn't have to be in terrible shape, but there are rust stains on the cover, so there need to be rust spots on the shell. The photos are just too bad to tell. The white lines are from being pulled over the rim of the helmet, the holes are mainly from the liner rubbing on them. The condition of the sweatband really different from the suspension. The sweatband is dark while the suspension looks new, I would expect it to be darkened aswell.

 

Combat used helmets can be in good condition, I don't think anybody is arguing that they can't be, but if the helmet is a set that been together since it was used the overall condition of the helmet should match. The cover and sweatband have seen much more use than the liner, chinstraps, and as far as I can tell from the photos, the shell too.

 

Could be legit, but just going off of what I see, without researching the name, it seems a little weird.

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The best part is the marine contract cover and I would have been very happy to own the rig just for the graffiti'ed cover.

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ArchangelDM

Ill display all the info when the lid arrives - plus new photos

It came from the estate of the late Robert Carson.

He was a vet of the Korean, and Vietnam war.

 

Yours

Dean

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Ill display all the info when the lid arrives - plus new photos

It came from the estate of the late Robert Carson.

He was a vet of the Korean, and Vietnam war.

 

Yours

Dean

Is this a message from the buyer? Or were you the one who bought the helmet?

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ArchangelDM

Is this a message from the buyer? Or were you the one who bought the helmet?

I am the new owner -

 

Yours

Dean

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ArchangelDM

Oh I see. I'm very much looking forward to better pictures!

Me too,

Ill provide pics when it arrives

Yours

Dean

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  • 2 weeks later...

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