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Postwar 3rd Infantry Division M1 Relic


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Hello fellows!

 

Today I picked this M1 3rd I.D. Helmet up near Aschaffenburg, Germany.

It is in a nice relic condition: salty and rusty, the interior almost falling apart.

 

It's a fixed bail front seam shell but the liner is a post war (1955+) Westinghouse liner, without the insignia eyelet and with the postwar Westinghouse mould-in mark.

The 3rd I.D. insignias are still well visible and to me authentic. The paint is cracking, rust is coming through and overall it pretty much looks homogeneous to me.

 

The seller got it off a scrapyard a few years ago, hence why the liner is pretty rugged up and the shell as well.

He was glad that I could explain to him what he had in his collection and so we made a deal. 

 

Enjoy!

 

Greetings

Blueprint 

 

 

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i like it. it looks to me like the helmet and liner was put together after the helmet was found. and it just my opinion but it looks like the unit marking was reaplied around the same time.it looks to me like the marking dose mathe the condition of the helmet. you can see what looks like one of the markings in the one pic

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In the second picture from the insignia, there seems to be a fresher white, not so yellowish as the rest of the white stripes but looking under the magnifier the fresher white is always underneath the older white. 
 

There seems to be no sign of a brush or spray at these spots. 
 

 

 

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3 hours ago, manayunkman said:

The division was stationed in Wurzburg for many years. Perhaps this helmet is from that time 


That is also my guess. As the division also had barracks at Aschaffenburg it would be plausible that this helmet came from there. 

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Here are two pictures from my magnifier showing the spot where the brighter white sits underneath the yellowish white.

 

The brighter white is more visible via UV than the yellowish. This may indicate a repaint. But why is it underneath the yellowish white? Any clue? 

Or may it be that the brighter white hid underneath the older white, thus why it looks more fresh? 

 

And the last picture shows good how the two tones of white "meet".

 

 

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Burning Hazard

Nice helmet Blueprint.

 

The reason the bottom insignia paint looks nice likely because the top layer preserved it before withering away (likely by handling).

 

Here is a 2nd Lt bar covered in shellac; note the bottom looks much more yellow than the outer layer.

 

Pat

H3.jpg

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59 minutes ago, Burning Hazard said:

Nice helmet Blueprint.

 

The reason the bottom insignia paint looks nice likely because the top layer preserved it before withering away (likely by handling).

 

Here is a 2nd Lt bar covered in shellac; note the bottom looks much more yellow than the outer layer.

 

Thanks Pat for clearing up. 
 

So I was right on my guess that it lost some paint. 
 

Yours

Blueprint 

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