Fake: M2 of Lt. Joseph Shelton 505th PIR - jkash

[RustyCanteen]

Wasn't he a moderator at one point?

 

Pete

 

 

Not a moderator here. What you may be remembering is a program we started a few years back where we would allow volunteers to have some ability to move threads, sort them, etc. to take some of the workload off (and it was confined to specific sections at first) off of the moderators. We couldn't settle on a name at first, so we called them 'Temporary Moderators', but changed it to avoid confusion with the moderators. That is today's 'Volunteers' group, who help out around the forum from time to time. Anyway, he wasn't in the program for very long and was never a full moderator on the regular staff.

[king802]

Since it's been asked Jamie is a graphic artist. Amongst other things he designs T-Shirts.

I also believe that he's dabled with German helmets too before he switched to M1's.

[mshaw]

I agree with Doyler. I've been hunting this stuff since 1985; auctions, flea markets, antique shows, antique malls, yard sales working with ebay pickers who go to all of these places and I have never even seen an M2 helmet in this time. I've picked up 20 helmets over 32 years and only two of them were guaranteed to have been worn in combat. I've personally known 3 paratroopers and 2 glider troopers and they all told me the same thing: They came back from Europe wearing an Ike jacket, pants, boots and an overseas cap and that's it.

[warpath]

Anyone who SERIOUSLY wants to collect authentic WWII period US painted or Airborne helmets needs to understand the true rarity of the helmets. As I have told many collectors who ask to buy one of my M2 or other Airborne helmets, I can call five or six reputable German militaria dealers and get you an authentic German Paratroop helmet within an hour, but I can't call anyone to buy a US M2 helmet or I would have bought it for myself.

 

Luck in a hunt is important, of course, but education is vital to this hobby. Blind trust in a seller and eyeballing helmets online as your sole source of knowledge is not the best way to proceed building a solid collection of anything. Research and experience are the foundations for any collecting interest. Remember what Reagan said, "Trust but verify".

[Ronny67]

Just curious, other than selling helmets on a web site, does anyone know what the original poster does for a living?

 

Jaimie Kashetta runs a Graphic Design Company based out of New York.

 

http://xeroproject.com/

[cutiger83]

If these helmets are so rare, why has it taken 6 years for anyone to call out the fact that he has had so many in his possession?

[mshaw]

If these helmets are so rare, why has it taken 6 years for anyone to call out the fact that he has had so many in his possession?

 

Because once someone is deemed an unassailable expert by the crowd they are treated as if they are Moses coming down from the mountain with the Tablets.

 

A good collector friend always told me: "See what you see, not what you want to see"

[dogface44]

If these helmets are so rare, why has it taken 6 years for anyone to call out the fact that he has had so many in his possession?

 

See posts 8 to 11 in the link below. It might give a partial answer why most of us never intervened. As Justin said, all of us were nervous to make such allegations due to a forum outrage.

 

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/294329-wwii-camo-painted-m2-d-loop-airborne-helmet-w-inland-paratrooper-liner/

[Burning Hazard]

warpath and mshaw,

 

Picasso's, Victoria Crosses, Egyptian mummies, and Maori artifacts are very rare in personal collections, yet there are people who possess several of them because they're well connected and have the funds to buy them. Look at Mark Bando's collection, he's personally known vets since the early 70's and has some of the rarest Airborne items.

I think many of us assumed Jkash was also one of those guys that was well connected since he was pulling such helmets out of the woodwork, but a lot of us became skeptical.

Look at Mark Bando's collection, he's personally known vets since the early 70's and has some of the rarest Airborne items.

[David D]

 

See posts 8 to 11 in the link below. It might give a partial answer why most of us never intervened. As Justin said, all of us were nervous to make such allegations due to a forum outrage.

 

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/294329-wwii-camo-painted-m2-d-loop-airborne-helmet-w-inland-paratrooper-liner/

Many of us have talked privately via email, PM, Facebook etc. about these helmets. But straight up more than half the helmet forum seemed to think this guy is God. I'll be honest, when I first joined I thought he was the best of the best but soon I caught on thanks to some friends who helped me open my eyes.

[cutiger83]

 

See posts 8 to 11 in the link below. It might give a partial answer why most of us never intervened. As Justin said, all of us were nervous to make such allegations due to a forum outrage.

 

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/294329-wwii-camo-painted-m2-d-loop-airborne-helmet-w-inland-paratrooper-liner/

 

 

Thank you for explaining. I appreciate it.

 

Looks like a lot of people are going to be eating crow and will now have suspect helmets in their collection.

[38Driver]

I think you have to remember that folks come and go here. I arrived after Jamie. Every indication was that he knew his stuff. There are certain names here that are a stamp of approval, fair or unfair, based on how they've proven themselves over time. Challenging the forum 'vets' who have given every indication that they know their stuff is not an easy thing to do. We all want some sort of acceptance here in the 'fraternity'. So it does become a balancing act. A new guy may have all the knowledge in the world, but he's still the 'new guy' and will have to earn his stripes over time.

 

All that said, folks can get branded as bad news much faster.

 

The hardest part of this particular episode is the taint of it rubs off on all of us from the newbies to the vets. It just adds more suspicion to all the helmets posted here. On the plus side, I hope it gets folks to remember why they are here and why they really got into the hobby.

[MAW]

Anyone who SERIOUSLY wants to collect authentic WWII period US painted or Airborne helmets needs to understand the true rarity of the helmets. As I have told many collectors who ask to buy one of my M2 or other Airborne helmets, I can call five or six reputable German militaria dealers and get you an authentic German Paratroop helmet within an hour, but I can't call anyone to buy a US M2 helmet or I would have bought it for myself.

 

Luck in a hunt is important, of course, but education is vital to this hobby. Blind trust in a seller and eyeballing helmets online as your sole source of knowledge is not the best way to proceed building a solid collection of anything. Research and experience are the foundations for any collecting interest. Remember what Reagan said, "Trust but verify".

 

This is the essence of my take. I am out beating the bush constantly...estate sales, garage sales, shows, etc.

 

I have seen only a handful of legit painted or combat worn WWII helmets...ever. In 30 years.

 

Take that for what it's worth.

 

Thanks to the moderators for reopening this thread.

[Hambone]

Generally what develops, and all areas of the hobby are plagued with this phenomenon on the internets, is the echo chamber effect created by group think. People so want to believe that the grail they bought from Seller X is original that they must increase the stock value of Seller X to increase the validity and value of the grail helmet they bought from Seller X. Soon this snowballs into Seller X being a lid demigod. Those who have not bought from Seller X and who doubt are heretics, are attacked, and generally no longer openly doubt or offer criticism. Soon, Seller X is elevated to lid demigod status and anyone looking to the forum sees Seller X as a demigod. They jump on the Seller X The Lid Demigod Mardi Gras float / bandwagon because doing so gets them accepted by the group. Doubting and questioning gets them attacked and shunned. Everyone in a group wants acceptance and their stuff blessed.

 

This has been especially acute over the years in 3R collecting, particularly helmets and one forum in particular, when the moderators who were customers and cronies of several Seller Xs engaged in censorship and abuses to protect the products and "expertise" of Seller X. We ended up with various frauds, some high dollar. The best weapon against this neurosis is transparency.

[doyler]

This is the essence of my take. I am out beating the bush constantly...estate sales, garage sales, shows, etc.

 

I have seen only a handful of legit painted or combat worn WWII helmets...ever. In 30 years.

 

Take that for what it's worth.

 

Thanks to the moderators for reopening this thread.

 

 

true

 

just another personal perspective and I often contemplate it in the overall picture.

 

I was born in the 60s(yes I know here goes that dreaded 30 year factor.... ).I saw the Vietnam war on TV.I had relatives there and neighbors as well but I was a very young boy but it made an impression on me.Possibly formed me as a collector.I use to hunt for the Nam stuff.It was typically scarce here.They boys came back and moved on or it was tossed awat,worn as work clothes at times or left at "mom and dads".Nam stuff was a first passion and still is but I developed a love for the whole picture.

 

Where am I going other than rambling about boyhood days and times past??

 

Think of it this way.Say the Vietnam war time frame from 1961(I know a couple guys who were there in 1958) but say 1961 to 1975.The involvment there surpassed the WW2 era involvement by years.The sheer amount of men and material used,lost destroyed,reused etc.Narrow this down to the helmet collecting field and how many original nam era worn helmets do we see or are out there?Many scramble to find those and they are equally as hard to find as any WW2 helmet.Same goes for the much sought after ARVN Ranger helmet.Hundreds exist in photos but a few handfuls may actually exist.

 

Compare the Vietnam helmets to WW2 helmets of anyform and it seems the numbers are not in favor of seeing real combat worn helmets from WW2 when looking at the 10 year peiod of the Vietnam war.I would think(personally) a Nam helmet with history would be easy to find but due to the nature of the item helmets were used and reused.

 

Don't take me wrong I'm just posting some personal thoughts and observations.There are good helmets out there and more to be found.Just have to look at the odds at times and wonder.

[Pete-o MSU]

 

 

Not a moderator here. What you may be remembering is a program we started a few years back where we would allow volunteers to have some ability to move threads, sort them, etc. to take some of the workload off (and it was confined to specific sections at first) off of the moderators. We couldn't settle on a name at first, so we called them 'Temporary Moderators', but changed it to avoid confusion with the moderators. That is today's 'Volunteers' group, who help out around the forum from time to time. Anyway, he wasn't in the program for very long and was never a full moderator on the regular staff.

Thanks Rusty

[doyler]

Generally what develops, and all areas of the hobby are plagued with this phenomenon on the internets, is the echo chamber effect created by group think. People so want to believe that the grail they bought from Seller X is original that they must increase the stock value of Seller X to increase the validity and value of the grail helmet they bought from Seller X. Soon this snowballs into Seller X being a lid demigod. Those who have not bought from Seller X and who doubt are heretics, are attacked, and generally no longer openly doubt or offer criticism. Soon, Seller X is elevated to lid demigod status and anyone looking to the forum sees Seller X as a demigod. They jump on the Seller X The Lid Demigod Mardi Gras float / bandwagon because doing so gets them accepted by the group. Doubting and questioning gets them attacked and shunned. Everyone in a group wants acceptance and their stuff blessed.

 

This has been especially acute over the years in 3R collecting, particularly helmets and one forum in particular, when the moderators who were customers and cronies of several Seller Xs engaged in censorship and abuses to protect the products and "expertise" of Seller X. We ended up with various frauds, some high dollar. The best weapon against this neurosis is transparency.

 

That topic also came to mind.

 

Also brings to mind keep drinking the cool aid and sooner or later it has a bad taste.

 

I agree this may go way deeper than one individual but that's to be determined.The fall out either way isn't good for anyone in the hobby and discourages new,old and established collectors alike.

 

I said for several years the same thing that happened to Third Riech/German collecting will happen to US collecting and often those in the industry have been involved in both.I first began to see it in the Vietnam collecting area which was fairly small back in the 1980s but fake patches were already an issue then.Its just steam rolled since.

[Luxembourg]

Jkash stated in the "Real or what" section that he displayed the helmet with a chin cup the last 2 years.

So we have here the definitive proof that he knows that it is faked, as the "Shelton" helmet was still untouched this year!

 

Here is the topic:

 

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/294329-wwii-camo-painted-m2-d-loop-airborne-helmet-w-inland-paratrooper-liner/

[Justin]

"As for it going than more than 10k..... eeeeeeeeeeh I wish. I would say a few years ago in a heart beat. Now prices have seem to dipped."

 

Perhaps the recent decline in painted helmets is due to the fact that the market has been flooded with fake helmets that could be had for half the price of a real one. Makes ya think!

 

J

[stealthytyler]

This is an interesting read about him painting some repro helmets for a buddy.

 

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/104504-cheap-wwii-reproduction-helmets/

[rob590ert]

http://www.thepicta.com/user/wwii_dropzone_helmets/4903169857

 

Since I can't find the actual instagram, here's photos of past helmets on a different page.

[Thor996]

Anytime you have a question about anything ...send me a pm and I guarantee...I won't be outraged.It is what we are here for. If you speak up the most that can happen is someone might disagree...that happens everyday.

 

This is true, Robert was very cool with me about a patch that I had a lot of questions about that generated a long thread..... 13th Bomb Squadron, but this post is to affirm what Robert is saying not about my patch..

[MasonK]

http://www.thepicta.com/user/wwii_dropzone_helmets/4903169857

 

Since I can't find the actual instagram, here's photos of past helmets on a different page.

Is it me, or does the paint (especially camo) on a lot of those helmets appear to have been done by the "same hand"?

[GeneralCheese]

http://www.thepicta.com/user/wwii_dropzone_helmets/4903169857

 

Since I can't find the actual instagram, here's photos of past helmets on a different page.

Careful going to this page, don't download anything.

 

Here's the link to Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wwii_dropzone_helmets/

 

Looking at those pictures it's amazing I didn't realize this earlier, there's no way anyone could acquire so many of those without a trace.

[Dirt Detective]

Is it me, or does the paint (especially camo) on a lot of those helmets appear to have been done by the "same hand"?

 

Yes..it does appear so.