Dear reader,
Got me a book to review via a friend today , he said “Frank you have to see this book” and sent me pictures and video via Whatsapp. The book in question is a self published book by author Peter Nash on German Combat helmets 1933 – 1945.
The photos and video preview I received prompted me to jump in my car and drive to my friend to get it. You will understand when you read the review.
REVIEW German Combat Helmets 1933 – 1945 by Peter J Nash
Warning : This review may contain traces of sarcasm
So there it is a hardcover book with 360 pages.
But what’s that on the front cover ? Not a very convincing example of a period German WW2 helmet but I guess it’s just my suspicious nature. Right ? We will see…
Page 1 and another suspicious looking German helmet with a fake tricolor ? There must be an explanation , let’s skip to the introduction.
The introduction tells us that the helmets are from the author’s 30 years collection , counting back this means he started collecting in 1988. Dangerous times. No internet , no color books to help you. Dealers reigned in those days as did fakers.
Other helmets come from his sons 25 year old collection and the icing on the cake Weitze and Oakleaf militaria also provided images in return for some advertising. Just what the community needs , another helmet book with dealer involvement.
So let us assess what is in the book , the disappointing cover aside.
Page 6 and 7 again 2 fake helmets. I know it is hard to tell from the photos but the right helmet is quoted as being an ET and carries a Big foot adler. Don’t get me started on the Kriegsmarine one , just too crazy for words.
Peter do please educate us on helmets because we are obviously missing something ? Skipping the fakes from page 8 to 11 we find on page 12 Peter his take on decals.
Peter says that the decal vs shell correlation is false. In his words “This false theory has resulted in de-valuing many collections and the smearing of well intentioned dealers.”
Dealer protection again…
Ok so I’m now on page 12 having read the most inane drivel from someone that has seemed to make a living from collecting fakes and then imagining them as authentic. What treasure is there still to gain from this book Frank I hear you all wondering ?
Hold your horses , check out this gallery of authentic decals. Sorry for the poor photos but you will see that in Peter Nash’s world the Big foot fake fits on all helmets.
The authentic Kriegsmarine decal gallery does not have a single authentic decal either. It shows again all Big foot fakes.
The Luftwaffe adlers he shows are all fake. The easy kind !
The books has 90 helmets in it , generously counting I came out at 68 easy identifiable fakes of which 9 out of 10 had fake big foot decals. Even M42’s. The liners are all cheap Eastern Euro crap.
Oh yes there is also SS stuff in there but we have already proven Peter is in above his head here. The gallery of crap continues.
Then come the even more insane pages in the book. Peter tutors us on what’s the difference between a fake and a fake. What !?
Steady guys , in Peter’s world he is showing the difference between a fake and an authentic decal. Look he’s written it above the decals.
In our world however I am looking at a person that has lost his marbles comparing 2 identical fakes.
CONCLUSION : Why was this book written ?
One would think that it makes no sense that anyone would write a book filled with fake helmets BUT in the world of Third Reich Militaria collecting it does make sense. It is not the first time fakes were inserted in books to make them authentic. The subtleness of previous cases is missing here altogether.
I can only speculate but the book challenges several generally accepted facts on German helmets. I say facts because testing theories based on observation is an accepted scientific process. By such observations we have made huge leaps forward in decal and helmet knowledge in general. To refute these findings made by collectors worldwide is utterly stupid.
The only party that really benefits from undermining collector communities are shady dealers.
Another reason why this book has seen the light may have to do with the fact that the collection would be put up for sale soon. Maybe or not the author only recently discovered he’s been collecting fakes for 30 years.
“Look it’s in a book” has made many victims. If he knows the helmets are fakes and I can’t imagine that no-one told him the book is made with fraudulent intent pure and simple.
But that’s the world we live in.
Good night everyone,
Frank
I ordered this book and eagerly waited. What a disappointment. I was stunned into silence as I turned the pages. Fake decals on nearly every page. £50 waisted a vanity project.
Sorry to hear that David, you should consider notifying the author via e-mail and Facebook. His e-mail address is on page 1.
Same here, had no idea what to think of it… Only silence was following!!
I knew about this book project from the author (chatted via fb); I knew he has a lot of fakes in collection since he showed me few blurry pics of a Feldherrnhalle helmet as well as with few SS, spotted in 1 nanosecond. I was told by him that this book would have changed many things in militaria community and collectors. Laughable to say it elegant.
Yes….this book helps to know what to avoid.
Thank you Frank.
Your review was both informative and entertaining.
Andrew
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Good article Frank. Lets hope this book will not fool starting collectors.
Jac
I commented on FB about this book.
I really can’t believe what I’m reading here!!!! In my opinion if you think you really need to make a new book today, (witch I think is not needed at this time. Everything is said for the moment.) you can’t afford to have just even ONE FAKE helmet in there, not just ONE!! And reading this about yet an other german helmet book with full of fakes makes me angry. Must be that that the owner of this book, and I really don’t care who it is or how long he’s collecting fakes, never bought a quality book in he’s life about german helmets. And when I read that he’s son is deliberately posting pictures of helmets with bad light makes me almost sure the hole family knows they have bad stuff. Btw Lenny I know you as a helmet collector so I don’t know why you help promoting this, but I think you better stand on the other side of the fence here. This kind of books and people who think they are collecting helmets without knowing what they have don’t do this hobby any good. We already suffering from BIG fraud that was going on for decades so why do we want to go further in this…. The only good think you can do now Lenny is to help people getting there money back from this book, I hope all copies return and they can recycle it for something useful. Sorry if I vent of this add but this is an add that should be existing. Oh and if someone cares for an explanation about why these helmets are fake in this book….? The decals that I see are to easy to talk about. Just buy yourself a good book about helmets. I’m sorry for those that I offended here but I needed to react on this. It’s FRAUD! And it makes me angry! Greetings Nick
Nick , thank you for your reply , I am as stunned and angry like you. The forces are gathering to attack this ridiculous publication on all fronts. Facebook and forums.
This does not surprise me at all. In all the books I have written, articles and on my YT channel, I have been saying exactly this for years. This is, the way of the self-proclaimed bigwig. Image, followed by a nice bit of “Ra Ra” and Bob`s your Unlce, whatever you want to be real, becomes real. Good that this book has been ripped apart. https://www.youtube.com/c/MicroMacroMilitaria
Thanks Jo , good to read that there are people fighting against such shenanigans. Keep up the good work.
Hi Frank
Thank you for a splendid and honest review of this book.
It is fascinating that an obvious dishonest collector with a very questionable collection (to out it mildly) believes that he can publish a book full of obvious fakes and claim to be an expert. I find his debunking of the shell lot number versus decal application through the splendid lot number research just utter nonsense. His motive is by all likelihood to sell fakes with the fake decals in the book. Of course you would want collectors to not believe in lot number research if you are a fraud.
This book will fool some novices and starting collectors, as the book and author portrays to be something which they are not. Hm, we have seen this before, but not to this ridiculus extent.
Cheers,
Rune
Thanks Rune , the good thing is that there is a strong community of collectors that know their stuff like yourself and all that have posted here and they are giving a lot of negative buzz on social media. We should discourage any further nonsense publications while we are at it.
The topic is up on the major forums , I’m not on Facebook but I hope people attack topics there as well.
The book is a complete joke. There is no 30yr old collection that has been accumulated by some old collector cause those bad liners and decals havnt been around for 30yrs and are Latvian fakes. This book will go down in history as the worst helmet book ever. Pure utter crap.
Out of interest – seeing as the author won`t answer my mails, how many footnotes are in this book?
Hello Jo, no footnotes.
Cheers, Peter Nash did indeed reply this morning, so I`ll have to correct the innitial posting. Indeed, no footnotes. Hmmmmm
I’m so glad I read your review of this book Frank. I met a ‘dealer’ recently who proudly showed this back ok off saying how lucky he was to have secured a ‘rare’ copy!
I then saw one for sale from a very reputable (usually)
Book seller on eBay saying how superb it was, I immediately advised he read your excellent review and change his description of the book. I’m new to your site but it’s excellent, many thanks Rod
Hello Rod , thank you for your comment, really appreciate it.