[Harvey]

Hello all,

It's been a long time since I posted....moving to Alaska has really slowed my collecting activitiy. Still, I have managed to pick up a few items.

Here is my first SS helmet purchase since 1986. Back then $500 bought a very nice SD SS; now it buys what you see below. This helmet appears to be untouched and I think there's enough of the decal left to prove it's SS. I can see a portion of the 'zig-zag' area of the right hand rune. I also see most of the border, some of the silver, and a lot of black on the left side where the silver was scraped off (I assume this was scraped during the war). Was black the base of these decals with silver applied on top?

Also of interest is the owner's name, which is penned on to the leather. I believe it also shows his rank, which I take to be either Gruppen Fuhrer or OberGruppen Fuhrer. The best I can make of the name is as follows:
(O) G.-Fur Rodnelt

It might just as easily be G. Fur Radnelt or Ratneld or Rodnelz or Radnelz or something similar. ....hard to tell. I'm really hoping that someone on the Forum with familiarity with german names and lettering can help out. I think it would be wonderful to discover for sure who this guy was, as I believe it would really help to pin the helmet down as an SS.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Harvey

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[Dom]

Hi there, interesting helmet! Have you tried looking at the name under an ultra violet light? It sometimes helps to take photos under that sort of light then play about with them adjusting the contrast and colours and so on to get a clearer idea of what the writing says.
Hope you find out more.
Cheers
Dom

[Sepp]

Wow, this lid has a ton of character! Too bad about the decal.

So, what's the consensus. A removed decal or an extreme case of the poor Q decal/m40 adhesion?? I'm thinking the later since I see no tool marks. That's why I treat my SS Q m40 like an egg. So damn fragile but oh so stunning!!

Sepp

[SSTk]

Cool helmet Harvey, as Sepp says too bad about the decal. No idea on the name, Doms idea is a good one.

[R.S.]

I uhmmed and ahhhhhd a long time about buying this lid , I think its a very good buy considering the price of SS helmets . Rob :icon14:

[malev]

Great helmet :icon14: Give you that real combat vet feeling :smile:

[Harvey]

Well, I'm very pleased to learn that there is an identified issue with decal adhesion on Q M40s. I see no scrape marks on the decal and the adhesion problem provides a plausible explanation; especially considering that the helmet has been poorly stored, effecting the rest of the finish as well as the decal.

I suppose I could lament the decal condition, but if it had been nice the helmet would have cost 8-10 times more money, and I wouldn't have purchased it. At least with this one I'm confident it's the genuine article. Getting stuck with a fake SS helmet is what soured me on helmet collecting 20 years ago and prompted me to sell off a nice collection that I will never replace.

I'll try the black light Dom; I'm very hopeful that I can discover who wore this helmet. If I can do that it will, at least to me, mitigate against the poor condition.

Does anyone know what the common abbreviation for Gruppenfuhrer was? I only showed one photo of the area that I thought was the rank, but it clearly looks to be either G. Fur or else O.G. Fur. Would that be the appropriate abbreviation? Would a SS Gruppenfuhrer have worn a helmet?

Also, looking at my own photos, it appears that the name might be Rotnetz or Ratnetz. It would surely be nice to be familiar with 1940s German cursive.

[Harvey]

Have you tried looking at the name under an ultra violet light?

Dom,

I tried the black light and my less than stellar results are shown below, one with nothing but black light and the other with half and half.

What am I doing wrong?

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[Dom]

Mmm not sure Harvey, maybe it is just difficult to get enough light inside the helmet. I had some success with this one but it did take a few attempts and I had to get right inside the helmet with the camera.
Cheers
Dom

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[brucaliffo81]

Very nice combat SS lid!!! :first:
Congratulation (a pity about the decal..)
Regards.

[WW2GermanHelmets]

Nice combat seasoned SS helmet. There is just enough of the decal left to have no questions that a Q decal was there.

[ogpsycho]

hi Guys :smile:

Rene (dolch12) an me try to read the name and the print. here are the results:

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 stempel.jpg (172.65K)
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the first part is deficult to read. :clue: i hope we can help a little bit.

kind regards
Basti

[peacenotwar]

Dom, on Oct 5 2009, 06:57 AM, said:

Mmm not sure Harvey, maybe it is just difficult to get enough light inside the helmet. I had some success with this one but it did take a few attempts and I had to get right inside the helmet with the camera.
Cheers
Dom

Very interesting picture. :smile: How did you take it? Lighting the liner with a blacklight only? The result is amazing. :icon14:

[Harvey]

Ogpsycho,

We are confusing two separate helmets. The one showing the name "Reinelt" is mine, the one with the printed inkstamp is a photo by Dom of one of his helmets. I really wish my helmet had those marks, but all it has is the guy's name and rank.

Thanks for everyone's help. I'm fairly certain now that the name inside my helmet is Reinelt. The rank is harder to read but really looks to me like "S - Fu:" or "G - Fu:".

In any event, it's a lot better than no name at all.

Harvey

[Harvey]

I hate to continue to bore everyone with a thread about a poor conditioned SS helmet but I really need to thank Forum members who have, at least to my satisfaction, determined the rank and last name of the SS Mann who wore this helmet. "Frickelpitt" and "Ogpsycho" have been most helpful. With their help I'm reasonably certain that the inscription reads:

RO.-Fu: Reinelt

Here is an image that "Frickelpitt" enhanced which helps a lot. The "R" in front of the "O-Fu:" threw me for a while because it is very weak and, although in upper case, is still a smaller letter than what follows it.

So I believe the helmet belonged to Rottenfuhrer Reinelt.

Thanks for all the help.

Harvey

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•  rotten_f_.jpg (122.34K)
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