German Helmet - Real Deal or Repro?

When I was about eleven years old, this German helmet was given to me by my dad's cousin. He got it from his father, my great-uncle. Now this great-uncle was not old enough to have been in World War II, but had four older brothers who were, but only one of which was an infantryman in Europe. It never determined when, where, or why my great uncle got this helmet. They have all passed now and cannot be asked.

Anyhoo, I wanted to post some photos of the helmet to determine if it is the real deal or a post-war remake. The only marking that I can see is the number 821. There may be markings under the liner but have never dared to try to remove it.

Thank you for looking and for giving me your opinions.

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e395/louisiana79/German03.jpg
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e395/louisiana79/German04.jpg
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e395/louisiana79/German05.jpg
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e395/louisiana79/German06.jpg
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e395/louisiana79/German07.jpg
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e395/louisiana79/German01.jpg
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e395/louisiana79/German02.jpg

 

I cant access your pice from my Dinosaur of a computer, is there any way you can post them as pictures here?

 

Here are the pictures. My apologies if the image size is too large.

Also, after closer inspection, it looks like the 821 could possibly be 824, with the 4 being a weak strike.

 

Hey Brian, not to be picky, but your father's uncle would be your grand uncle, not your great uncle. Kind of like your father's father is your grandfather. Again, not to be picky or anything. I hope your helmet is real, it's beautiful.

 

It's hard to say from a picture but the chin strap and liner seems original, so does the LW paint. I don't know about the decals. I would need to see close ups, but considering the rest is genuine, I'd be tempted to say those are original too, but this is just an opinion, not a fact.

 

looks like norwegian rework, liner is german original, but shows refitted, and red dyed, typical of norwegian helmets, germans used the typical alluminium liner pins, and these were usually replaced with brass pins, but yours still has! what could? be original pins, but may have been replaced repros, and the chinstrap is typical of norwegian, which leads to believe, postwar? rework...the inside paintwork is consistant with norwegian colouring..

norwegian interior ...

 

From what I have read elsewhere, the inner light-olive paint ( contrasting strongly with the outer finish ) is an indicator of possible post-war Norwegian re-working......

 

Pardon my ignorance, but what do ya’ll mean by Norwegian reworking? Was this an attempt by certain dealers in Norway to deceive collectors?

 

original german helmets that were then reworked to become norwegian, no con, just that these were then used by the norwegian army..
http://hem.bredband.net/runmat2/no_helm.html look thro here...

 

I see. Thank you. So in a way, it is an original, but then again, it's not. Oh, well. It was still an awesome gift and looks good on the bookshelf. At least I know more about what I have.

 

No, it's an original German WWII helmet re-worked for Norwegian forces to use post-WWII. However, when they were released onto the market in the 1970s, some unscrupulous militaria dealers tried to pass them off as 'totally original'.

There's a more detailed discussio nat ; -

Axis History Forum • View topic - Re-converting a "Norwegian" M42

 

im sure its not a repro but on the edge wit hgerman ww2....