Oh never a dull moment when you collect militaria. Plenty of rubbish to go through each time one searches ‘German helmet’ on Google.

This time I got inspired to do another episode of tracking the fakes when someone mentioned Spree Militaria to me. It’s a site I remembered but not frequent. Now I know why.

Sometimes helmets are so ridicously bad that I am amazed someone takes the trouble to photograph them.

Spree Militaria

Here we go a camouflaged Quist DD Kriegsmarine helmet , this would be a top shelf item in anyone’s collection… If it was authentic… which this one is not.

Because Quist did not produce Kriegsmarine M35’s , because the decals are fake and because the paintjob is so badly done. Still Spree dares to ask 1995 euros for it.

The Luftwaffe helmets on his site are of similar quality bearing the ‘easy fake’ Luftwaffe decal. Mein gott , it is terrible. I would not buy a button from that website.

LION GATE arms and armour

Definitely not a website specialised in selling German helmets but how hard can it be to have one German helmet checked out ?

This Red cross is a total fantasy piece with fantasy decals. It’s a black Feuerschutz helmet that has been upgraded to something more special in order to ask more $$$. They ask 1065 USD !

Ebay and other online Auctions

I always advise new or inexperienced collectors to avoid auction sites as it can end in disaster easily. Auction houses like to present everything with big words , posh representations and you really feel that what you are bidding for will be exactly as they describe. Unfortunately a lot of items are misrepresented or completely fake. Of course there are good helmets there but you need to be able to filter them out. Bad purchases are often not refunded!

One helmet to be extremely wary about is the cloth / canvas / wire camo. These helmets are typical collector traps. Sure German soldiers are observed wearing these type of camo’s but the truth of the matter is extremely few have survived the war and they are easy to fake.

The helmet below recently was on auction and sold for over 4000 euros. The helmet was reviewed one the Wehrmacht awards forum and quite quickly (and justly) dismissed as a fake.

M42 helmet models (especially those with no decals) are a prime target for fakers so when coming across camo’s , red cross painted helmets , wire camo or any other M42 with something that seems rare and unique be very careful.

This helmet on ebay is a good example of a fake camo M42. The supposed Luftwaffe factory color that we see on the inside is clearly not the correct color. The extensive orange oxidation is also a give away as is the reproduction liner. On the exterior again the orange oxidation is an issue.

Weitze

Weitze , as usual mixes good with ridiculously bad.

Watch out for this Dutch Luftwaffe flakhelfer , it’s the “easy fake” Luftwaffe eagle combo with a fake Hitlerjugend diamond. A combination which is pure fantasy.

Also watch out for Heer helmets being advertised as Kriegsmarine. This is clearly a half toned Heer decal (looks like and Ed Strache decal). So this one is a completely authentic helmet , just not a Kriegsmarine.

Here another one , clearly not Kriegsmarine and there are many more.

Stahlhelme der Kriegsmarine sind nur sehr selten zu finden quoting Weitze 🙂

The transitional Polizei with fake decals I presented in an earlier episode of detecting the fakes is still in his inventory.

OAKLEAF MILITARIA

Arguably one of the dealers I found the most absurd fake helmets over the past 15 years , myself and many other members posted many topics on this dealer throughout the years. You can read one here (remember to register) : here

The helmet below is for sale today on his website for over 4K USD. It seems the canvas wire crew has been hard at work but still a totally unconvincing helmet.

JC MILITARIA

The final bad boy to add to this blog. First of all this dealer his photos are the worst I have seen which makes it even for me tricky to detect the fakes.

Take a look at this M42 NS Kriegsmarine helmet (NS did not produce Kriegsmarine helmets).

Fake Bigfoot decal and post war paintjob.

This horrible fake red cross helmet is marked as sold (poor buyer) also comes with a fake Bigfoot decal and a fake tricolor. Alarm bells should ring when you come across a Heer or Luftwaffe DD M40.

Fantasy ! (fake adler and also a combination of paint color and eagle to the front that is not commonly observed)

That’s all for now folks. Appreciate your comments and have a great sunday.

Regards,

Frank