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Opinions on M1 medic helmet wanted


Mango
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I recently bought a M1 helmet and I'd like opinions on the helmet please :)

 

The helmet shell is early (late WWII or Korea, does anyone know?) and the liner is early Vietnam era stamped 31MAY67 and the chinstrap is from that period as well. The Mitchell cover is from '73.

I bought the helmet without taking the cover off and when I got home I was quite surprised to see it had medic crosses painted onto it. It has five crosses in total and the one on top of the dome seems to be a later addition as the paint looks different. Now this shell has a lot of layers and the earliest I can recognize is the dark OD from the Korean War era. The last added paint is thick and has unfortunately flaked off from use. The helmet has been dropped several times on top of the dome in its life and it's a bit banged up in that area but that wear seems to be consistent with all the layers so I'm guessing that it could had had the same owner through all the periods. I also suspect that is why the dome cross is a later addidtion (if they're real that is). The liner is named to a HASTING or HASTINGS.

 

When I bought the helmet the liner was full of cobweb and dead bugs so I cleaned up the liner a bit with a dry cloth

 

Pictures can be seen here https://imgur.com/a/xxXQz6q

 

 

 

What are your thoughts on the helmet?

 

 

Mango

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I have a similar helmet with medic crosses found under a cover with them being painted over a worn repaint. Curious to see what people think of this one.

 

Russ

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As a point of order, we REALLY want to see photos actually posted on the threads, not externally hosted, or in a few years the photos disappear and the threads become worthless as a resource. There is a whole page of resources and tutorials here on how to do so- Thanks for helping to make this forum great!

 

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/forum/24-photos-imaging/

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Heavily repainted shell that had been in use a long time judging by the paint layers. I'm not going to save, crop, and resize every one of the 52 photos, but here's one for posterity. The liner is a standard one dated 1967, the 1973 Mitchell cover is average, and the chin straps are correct for the 1960s, no need to discuss or repost those photos.

post-32676-0-13344800-1567688412_thumb.jpg

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BILL THE PATCH

To me it looks like it was painted yesterday. I'm not helmet guy per say but that's looks like fresh paint to me.

At least the person didn't try an age it with heat or coffee grounds.

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

 

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My thoughts are the same as the others and the same as I posted on WAF....looks like recent art work. Medics are all the rage these days. Everybody wants one...and the market is delivering.

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Oh well, you can't win every time :)

 

I didn't buy it as a medic helmet and it wasn't sold as one so nothing lost on my behalf. The wife to the previous owner was the one who sold it to me and said that her husband had it for many years so she was quite please that it was finaly moving on. And had he known about the crosses he might have tried to sell it on as such. But I don't think he was a collector or he wouldn't have sold it for less than $30. Maybe they were painted onto the helmet before he got it and never saw day light until I took the cover off which is why they look newly added. Well it's all speculation and I can guess from here on till the end of days and I'll never know the answer.

 

I like the helmet for all the layers of paint it has, really showing off the use it has seen. I'll put back the cover on it and pretend the crosses aren't there :)

 

Bigschuss I simply wanted as many eyes on the helmet as possible that's all. So thank you and the rest of you for help ing me out!

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BILL THE PATCH

You did fine, whether the paint is original or not. I'd pick up complete Vietnam-era M1s all day at $30 each.

Ditto

 

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

 

 

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Bigschuss I simply wanted as many eyes on the helmet as possible that's all. So thank you and the rest of you for help ing me out!

 

That's a good call. I do the same when I have doubts. As the others have said, you certainly have lost nothing with this helmet.

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