Hello !

I wanted to show you this interesting (for several reasons) US M1  helmet :

 

-First, the shell is a rare "transitional"  front seam with a manganese rim made in 1944 (Only produced 1 month during the war, in October/November 1944 if I'm right), it features a quite dark green paint with a smooth finition (doesn't have cork or sand), a yellow anchor painted at the front, and "NH" painted with a Navy-blue color at the back. We can see stains of "blue ship" near the "NH" letters (see pictures)

 

-The liner is a correct "Firestone 51" with blackened A-washers and OD3 cloth, probably made in 1944 too. It features several layers of paint : first, a yellow paint was applied, then an orange layer with a "E" stencil on the front, and then the last layer is a red layer, which I tend to believe is for Fire Controle in the ships.

 

- The cover is a 100% coton Mitchell pattern, even though I'm not an expert with this, I think it's a correct Vietnam era cover. The first letter of the contract number is quite unreadeable, maybe 1027 or 3027 or 9027 ?

 

I have several questions :

-The number of the shell is quite disturbed, it is not in front of the rim jonction, I have never seen that before, is it normal ?

-For the number itself, I can read 328 and maybe A : so 328A, which is quite low for that kind of helmet...I don't understand

-Do you know what doest "NH" can stands for in Navy terms ? and the "E" applied on the liner ?

-I believe it's a ww2 helmet refurbished during the Vietnam war for Navy/Fire Controle if you can confirm it

 

Best regards

 

I have an other thing running into my head : could it be an italian M1 helmet used by Navy since it's come from Italia ? 

 

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