Dear followers ,

In this article I will show you some high magnification photos of fake Luftwaffe decals compared to original ones.

The Luftwaffe fakes I have come across these last 20 years are of poor quality and a trained eye can spot these fakes easily without a loupe. But not everyone is a 100% die hard helmet collector. I see helmets with these fake decals still being sold today.

Authentication becomes more tricky if fake decals are covered with ‘camo paint’ , especially if the tell tale features are covered up and the fake camouflage is expertly recreated. Here the USB microscope can be a powerful tool.

Below example with 2 fake decals sold for 1800$ on an auction site.

SIDE BY SIDE COMPARISONS

On the left an unapplied 5$ droop tail fake and on the right an original droop tail eagle on an ET M35.

You can immediately see the digital sawtooth print in the unapplied example. Lack of details in graphics and also the white shows an even plastic white in the fake and a more milky creamy and thicker white on the original. The original is more layered as the black is printed on top of the white.

Next up is the other style Luftwaffe eagle , an applied one this time.

Top row is the original , bottom row the fake.

This one also shows the digital print which suffices to categorize it as a fake. You will notice the white has more depth and compares better to the original however design wise it is still a very flawed example.

DECALS UNDER CAMOUFLAGE PAINT

The helmet below fooled many knowledgeable collectors (and dealers) when it surfaced in 2005. It has 2 fake decals and a very convincing camo paint applied.

In this particular case you can just see enough of the decal to declare it as a fake , no tools needed. For further reading on this particular helmet visit German Helmet Walhalla : Here

Here are 2 original WW2 camouflaged Luftwaffe helmets where only a tiny spot of decal is visible. With the USB microscope you even with the tiniest spot of the eagle visible dive in and authenticate it.

Example 1 of an original Luftwaffe camo with decal hidden under the paint

Example 2 of an original Luftwaffe camo with decal hidden under the paint

That is all for now , keep your eyes open and make sure you are one step ahead of the frauds in our hobby.

Until next time.

Frank

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello everyone ,

Today I want to touch upon a subject that is as old as the hobby of helmet collecting. Care and preservation.

It is a subject that comes to the top often on the forums we visit.

The most common questions are how to deal with oxidation and how to deal with dry leather. In essence the answer to both questions is pretty simple but only if we are talking about helmets which I call above ground finds as opposed to dug up or ground finds. Ground finds will not be covered on this page as I lack the expertise in that area.

The history of preserving helmets

Before I continue let me first sketch the situation about 40-50 years ago , the first collectors already dealt with this topic. The golden advice was then that to preserve a helmet you needed to wax the steel or oil it.  The leather was often treated with a plethora of leather caring products.

Today these helmets stick out like sore thumbs , the exteriors are shiny looking the leathers look black , stiff or greasy and dark.

That’s right 40 years later a lot of these well intentioned preservation jobs actually made a lot of outstanding WW2 relics a whole lot less interesting to 21st century collectors.

Preservation in the 21st century

All the helmets on this site are what I call ‘above ground finds’. Helmets found in houses , attics , cellars , in veteran duffle bags , you name it.

Their condition is variable , from excellent condition to battle look (which often means lots of paint loss , oxidation and dirt).

Have a look at the two helmets below.

Top : an excellent beaded Luftschutz , possibly unworn with supple leather and great paint.

Bottom : A battle worn look camo with lots of paint loss on top and inside an dry stiff leather. Dirt between the liner band.

For sure just from looking at the first helmet we can just put that one back on the shelf. But how about the second one ? Does it look like it needs preservation ? Do we need to medivac it and stabilize it before we can put it on the shelf ?

As I said in the beginning the answer is easy , it’s NO.

NO treatment whatsoever is advised for “above ground” found helmets.

Here’s why :

1. Helmets as described above do not have active oxidation. That means even though it has oxidized it will not deteriorate in a normal environment like your hobby room.
2. The leather follows the same logic. A good environment stalls the deteriorating process. (Many WW1 helmets around with decent original 100 year old leather)

And here’s again why not :

1. Waxed , oiled helmets did not fare better than any kept in original state. And on top of that they lost value.
2. Many leathers treated in the seventies and sixties actually do look worse (and smell badly).

That’s it for now.

Enjoy the rest of your week-end and if you didn’t check in recently , lots of new stuff is up on the website.

Cheers,

Frank

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear readers,

In my travels through the murky depths of the online world I picked up information that I like to share with you.

While I pay less notice to ground finds myself I still found it an interesting topic nonetheless.

The paintwork shown below is all ‘newly’ painted in ground dug helmets. In some names mistakes were made like the dotted e which does not exist in the German language.

You see these are all very extensive additions , name with detailed unit and so forth. Things we rarely see in ‘above’ ground finds.

The source of these ‘upgraded’ helmets is believed to be in Russia. The personalization adds a lot of character to a rust pitted battlefield relic and that’s what collectors look for. Do not be fooled.

That’s all for now.

Frank

Source : warrelics forum

Dear readers ,

A little newsflash of what is going on behind the scenes of the German Helmet Vault.

I am starting to catalogue different decals using my ADM device , ADM stands for Advanced digital magnification. It is a USB microscope that allows you to zoom in at 25 or 200 zoom. The result can then be viewed on your PC monitor and even photographed. I started using it 7 years ago and it is slowly becoming the number 1 tool for helmet collectors. Modern copy decals literally fall apart when magnified.

2 years ago I also invested in a portable version that I could take with me to military fairs.

I will be adding my photos with some explanation in separate pages on the site in the relevant categories.

Here’s a sneak peek of an ET Heer decal. On the left an ET M35 and on the right an SE M35 at 25 zoom.

The chest at 200 zoom

Since the last blog message there have been many updates , updates are now always mentioned on the main page so make sure to check in regularly.

Have fun collecting,

Frank

 

A few weeks ago I finally got the chance to view a round bottom DRK decal. I had posted a topic on German Helmet Walhalla in 2012 on these decals , trying to get a discussion going on their possible originality. The consensus reached in that topic was to keep them in the fake category.

I was surprised when I saw the round bottom DRK decal featured in the book “The helmet decals of the Third Reich” as one of 2 authentic DRK designs. I was determined if somehow a helmet with such a decal would cross my path I needed to examine it with the USB microscope and see what that would tell me.

A few weeks ago I was able to look at a helmet , a blueish M34 , with the decal in question. I only had my portable USB microscope with me , while it displays nice and sharp on screen the photos I took are of sub standard quality.

USB examination results

I saw pretty quickly that the decal ticked all the boxes that I like to see when looking at an original decal at high magnification. For those not familiar with the USB microscope  it can zoom in at 2 settings. 25x or 200x. So what did it show me ?

• Correct colors (the white looks like a solid milky white substance)
• Correct depth and texture (you can see the layers overlapping one another , the black and red printed on the white)
• Straight lines at 200 magnification become wavy lines , corners are very rounded not nice and sharp.
• Damaged area shows correct thickness of the decal

Overall I was surprised at how well this decal matched with an original.

USB close-ups at 25x and 200 zoom.

Taking the evidence to court

These findings needed to be discussed now amongst collectors. There is a reason that this decal has been called out as a fake for 72 years.  Let’s consider this.

1.  Without looking at the close-ups that aspect alone is worth looking at. The accepted pointy DRK decal is only found on M34 civic style shells , the majority of grey color. The really early ones on green M34 shells. The round bottom decal however is also found on gladiator shells and beaded combat shells. Most in Luftschutz color. I saw only one on a grey shell as you would expect. This in itself is difficult to explain.
2. Lack of photographic evidence. No period pictures so far have been discovered with these decals.
3. A decal created before the digital age but after WW2 would / could have the exact same traits as a wartime produced decal under high magnification.
4. Collectors that have specialized in these helmets remember the round bottom decal appearing in the seventies and on all kind of shells. This checks out with point 1 , 2 and 3.

Verdict

While the decal itself seems construction wise to come very close to an originally produced Third Reich era decal there are too many what if’s surrounding its application. The fact that collectors that were collecting long before me already had put this decal in the fakes section says more than some USB close-ups. We have to accept that we always have to work with tools and it’s our logic and common sense that needs to tell us what the tool is showing. For now this decal will remain where it is , in the fakes section.

 

Hello everyone as promised I am already here with a site update notification. I added 4 interesting helmets. 2 rare double decal SS helmets and a perhaps even rarer Luftwaffe helmet with net and green adler , I also added a no decal helmet from the mystery maker qvl.

The qvl maker has also been added to the Combat models and makers page. The SS decals and Luftwaffe decals pages have also been updated.

I also added a nice gimmick on the Home page. Under the sub menu you will see a thumbnail slideshow of helmets I recently added to the site. That way you do not have to click on all pages to see what’s new or wait for my update e-mail.

So what can you expect in the near future ? I will keep looking for rare configurations and helmets that will make the site more complete. And an article on the USB microscope is also in the pipeline.

Thanks for checking in and spread the word.

Frank