What Does A $24,000.00 Fake Helmet Look Like?

[vintageproductions]

I for one would like to see this fully go the legal route.

 

This hobby is full of dishonesty, esp. in the German collecting field. The fakers have run rampant because they know no one is going to do anything, let alone try to prosecute. Just like stated above, many times, what lawyer is going to take a case involving SS / German relics? A lot will, because of the high value of these items.

 

I believe this time because of the value and because people are finally getting sick and tired of all the fake BS, this may go forward. I know one person who has three of these in their collection and the total was in the low five figures range. I don't know about most of you but if I found out I had been burned for that much money, someone would pay.

 

Between this subject, the Xray proving of helmet originality, and the high end SS fake camo helmet covers, it just sucks the life out of this faction of the military collecting field. When you have to be a scientist to know if your items are real, what fun is left in the hobby? None.

[Bugme]

...there probably aren't too many lawyers chomping at the bit to take on SS helmet cases.

 

I've known Kelly for over 30 years and I sure hope he isn't involved.

There are lawyers interested already.

 

Whether Kelly Hicks was ignorantly or knowingly involved two things are certain: 1) He has a lot of Money Back Guaranteed COA's out there that he'll have to answer for and 2) He has lost his reputation as the go to expert.

 

 

I for one would like to see this fully go the legal route.

 

This hobby is full of dishonesty, esp. in the German collecting field. The fakers have run rampant because they know no one is going to do anything, let alone try to prosecute. Just like stated above, many times, what lawyer is going to take a case involving SS / German relics? A lot will, because of the high value of these items.

 

I believe this time because of the value and because people are finally getting sick and tired of all the fake BS, this may go forward. I know one person who has three of these in their collection and the total was in the low five figures range. I don't know about most of you but if I found out I had been burned for that much money, someone would pay.

 

Between this subject, the Xray proving of helmet originality, and the high end SS fake camo helmet covers, it just sucks the life out of this faction of the military collecting field. When you have to be a scientist to know if your items are real, what fun is left in the hobby? None.

You're right Bob, I no longer enjoy this hobby and find myself questioning every potential purchase so much to the extreme that I am sure I've passed on several good one's that I wouldn't have in the past as a result.

[manayunkman]

No matter where the chips fall Kelly is going to take a huge hit.

 

Is this only about the SS champaign decal?

 

 

 

There was a legal case against a guy in Pa. who had duped a collector with many fakes.

 

I don't know what the outcome was but I do know he was barred from the Forks of the Delaware show in Allentown.

[willysmb44]

I'm reminded of what Peterson at NCHS once said, that there was no such thing as "original German stuff", as it was all just based on the opinions of collectors in regard to every piece.
US is already there for the things that can be faked (such as patches), but German stuff was made very shoddily and in countless small factories, whereas a lot of US stuff wasn't done that way (again, other than patches).

I once saw a A-2 jacket I had painted years before for sale, as an 'original' one, which made my blood boil as I had made up the art for the back so it wasn't a copy of anything real. The seller swore it was real and he had the photos of it being worn in WW2 (which he forgot to bring, but if I bought it, he'd for sure mail them to me... ). When I told him I'd painted it, and that I stamped a certain hard-to-notice spot on each one I ever painted, he snatched it out of my hands before I could get to the spot to show him that stamp.

Makes me wonder if someday, someone's going to have my name in a book as a person trying to defraud collectors, even though I just did them for vets and re-enactors back before they got crazy valuable and countless people were doing the same thing.

[Centurion]

 

 

"I no longer enjoy this hobby and find myself questioning every potential purchase so much to the extreme that I am sure I've passed on several good one's that I wouldn't have in the past as a result."

 

You are so right!!!! Good to hear not to be the only one. I question 9 from 10 helmets. In France on ebay at least 7 from 10 helmets are fakes.

 

Martin

[popcorn]

Very unfortunate that Doug has cut and run/deleted all his posts from GHW and from what I read sold off most of his collection. Likely got fed up with all the BS in SS helmet collecting. Hopefully this doesn't happen with US collecting.

[willysmb44]

Hopefully this doesn't happen with US collecting.

It will, eventually.

You can count on it.

[RANDALL 1953]

Bob from Vintage is 100% correct on the fake 3rd Reich items. Someone said there are probably more fakes now than during the war. My Father was a Sgt. In the US Armies 160th Combat Engineer Battalion in WW2.and gave me a stickpin he took off a German Artillery officer .This was 1969 and sparked my interest in collecting both US & German items. Back then reproductions were so poorly made they were laughable. Not so the case today which is why I stopped collecting the German items. These what I call high tech repros are very well made. I know one dealer who has been selling German & US items for over 30 years and even he got taken on a WW2 German U Boat badge.