2009 MAX Show

Bring Money!

I went to the 2009 Military Antiques Extravaganza in Monroeville Pennsylvania this weekend.

Goodness! Extravaganza is right. What a show.

Comprised of mostly top-of-the line objects with few fakes, most notably the one below:

WWII German lid with a post-war liner. An oddly obvious attempt at subterfuge at such a prestigious show (and dig that crazy chinstrap bail).

The organizers of this show strive for authenticity of objects and they seem to do a pretty good job of policing their dealers. About the only thing bogus at this show were the prices. Generally unrealistic asking prices seemed to be the order of the day, flying in the face of not only the current economy but also the realities of ebay. Obviously this show's for the hoity-toity, not for the hoi-polloi such as I.

It is Nazi heavy in artifacts. I saw but one South American helmet, a Peruvian Adrian, and there were no Scandinavian, Asian, or Cold War Eastern Bloc helmets to be found. Anyone hoping to score modern ballistic plastic and composite helmets would have similarly found themselves out of luck.

Helmet-wise this show consisted of, in ascending order, WWII Russian, Japanese, Picklehauben, U.S. M1s, and Nazi German lids. I was in a sea of swastikas, to the point of creepiness.

Interestingly enough I saw almost no money changing hands, at least not on Saturday. Perhaps this was a reflection of general economic hard times, or simply the unrealistic asking prices on most of the items. Leaving me to wonder exactly who the target clientele was supposed to be:

deep-pocketed bunker decorators? rubes? overeager monied beginners? neo-nazis? Mel Brooks? (click the link, you'll be glad you did)

Crazy daddy-o!

Nonetheless it was worth seeing... once.

You can watch my low-resolution video below, thus saving a trip to Monroeville (you'll thank me for that).

Keep your sense of humor and keep on collecting!

Mannie

From Before the time of Modern Helmets

Here's a video I put together of a remarkable event that I attended one week ago. It's a short reminder of service, sacrifice, and the dignity we can bring to remembrance.

Go here to view.

German M.1916 "high visor"

Never pass up a dumpster.

Here's the sort of story we all hope to be involved in personally.

First, the helmet. New to my collection is this very nice WWI German M.1916

A fine specimen of that most iconic of early 29th century lids.


Although sans liner, the gray/green paint is about 90% present.

That dramatic Teutonic profile always makes me just a touch uneasy.

With a pleasing patina, this helmet seems to have been, until recently, treated very well,

until it was quite unceremoniously pitched into a dumpster and headed for a Western Maryland landfill.

Then, this young man came along to change the outcome of the story.


This is my friend Jim. Jim is a motorhead in the best sense of the word. He has a passion for, and is very handy with, automobiles. With the budgetary constraints of most 18 year-olds with sensible parents, Jim has to use creative - though legal - means to acquire usable spare parts for whatever vehicle he's currently working on. Those means include occasional "dumpster diving".

Jim was diving a dumpster that was shared by an auto repair shop as well as an antique store. Imagine young Jim's surprise when he emerged from said dumpster not with an exhaust manifold, fan shroud, or hood strut, but this very nice old soldier from the trenches of WWI.

And imagine my surprise when this fine young man recently gave it to me to add to my collection!

Acquired just two weeks ago this lid may turn out to be a favorite. I already have a nice garden-variety M.1917 which, unlike this one, still has most of its liner (check it out here). Otherwise the two helmets are nearly identical.

The dome stamp "R440" is quite crisp and the intact paint is shown here to good effect.


Though no liner or chinstrap are present, there is still a single strap fastener end.


The characteristic lugs are quite crisp with nice squared, sharply defined edges...

and are still very tightly secured with a large washer on the inside of the shell.


All split rivets are present...


and in very good condition.

As my M.1917 this is size E.T. 64, visible here on the side skirt and...


as a ghost image, here on the exterior. Some stamping mill!


All in all a delightful piece, though no standout until I set it on a level surface facing my M.1917:

voila! The storied "high-visor" early production version of the M.1916.

Thanks Jim, for bringing something new, and special, to my collection.

And thanks Olaf for the comment below which prompted me to view this lid as an M.1916 rather than an M.1917!

M1917-A1 Every dog has its day

Sometimes even a stop-gap like the M1917-A1 can have its day in the sun.

The penny-pinching War Department, whilst searching for a suitable replacement for the WW1 M-1917, had, by 1936, issued a field modification for that helmet consisting of a new liner, suspension, and chinstrap, designated the M1917-A1.

For a nation plunged into a war it was all but unprepared for, the M1917-A1 was a slightly improved incarnation of the helmet worn by GI's doughboy fathers, the M1917. With a vastly improved liner and chinstrap, this "tin derby" was nonetheless obsolete as the first bombs were falling on Pearl Harbor and was nothing more than a stopgap until the M1 helmet could reach full production.

Though originally merely an upgrade of the M1917, in 1940 nearly a million new M1917 style shells with the 1936 liners were produced and issued to the troops in all branches. Otherwise the troops were using the upgraded lids from WW1.

During America's darkest days in World War Two the M1917-A1 was the helmet used by US forces. Morale boosting movies like "Wake Island" and "Bataan" Featured big names like Brian Donlevey, Robert Preston, and Robert Taylor, with strong supporting roles provided by the M1917-A1.

(The lighting was always so perfect in the Pacific theater)

However, one didn't need to look to Hollywood for inspiration. Real heroes in M1917-A1s were out there fighting and winning. These sailors of the USS Ward pose for cameras after sinking a Japanese mini sub during the Pearl Harbor attack.

Courage alone, however was not going to stop the inevitable.

An American GI and his Phillippine counterpart, armed for bear and sporting the M1917-A1, will be eventually succumb to Japanese gunfire, disease, and near starvation.

Sadly their efforts to hold the line against the Japanese juggernaut in the Pacific ended at best like this:

Or at worst, as the victims of their captors' barbarity. These were the days when the Japanese routinely hacked prisoners to death, a practice they now reserve for dolphins.

These two Depression-era infantrymen undergoing basic training before the war are training with the weapons and helmets of an earlier war. Military preparedness was eschewed by the peace-time populace, and the country was caught flat-footed when the shooting began.

Here, then is an old soldier in my collection, in issued, though outstanding, condition.

The shell is that of the M1917. No big surprises there. The difference is revealed when one looks under the lid...

and beholds this effective, and elegant suspension and liner, a marvel of steel, leather, and canvas webbing.

The top view demonstrates the new Olive Drab color that became standard for U.S. ground forces.

The handsome blackened nut secures the suspension to the shell. The sawdust-textured paint is also shown to good effect in this picture.

The number is a reminder of a much tinier U.S. military, the pre-war forces, when materiel was a precious and limited commodity, always to be inventoried, accounted for, and returned to the proper hook, slot, or rack.

The rim is joined more in the British-style rather than the American that characterized the WWI versions of this lid.

Close-up of simple, though, vast improvements over the old M1917. The bail affixed to the shell has the same function as that of the M1917 in that the chinstrap merely passes through it rather than attaches to it, but we get our first hint of the engineering and materials that will make this suspension so superior to it's WWI uncle.

High-grade leather in four leaves comprises the contact area for the wearer's head, depth adjustable with grommets and a leather thong.

The liner is suspended on steel bands which are lightweight but sturdy, unlike the fragile single leather strap that the entire chinstrap and liner of the M1917 depended upon. In the very dome is a padded leather pillow. This is a very comfortable, effective, and adjustable liner, providing excellent padding and the crucial spacing between the shell of the helmet and the head of the wearer.

This nice, crisp ordnance marking resides under the front leaf of the liner.

The high quality of the materials and manufacture is evident in this view.

Untying the crown pad reveals another ordnance stamp as well as the intersection of the steel supension bands and the securing screw.

As one examines the fine leather work of this liner the expense becomes apparent.

This marking, the number 20, is the only stamping I've found on the shell.

The attractive blackened brass "hook and arrow" fastener will survive this model helmet and campaign on with the M1.

As in its pre-war days, this helmet has a number once again, though this time it's for purposes of cataloging and curating.

And when is a curator a bad role model?

... when he can't resist trying things on, that's when!

See you next time with another helmet from the collection, until then, comments, questions, and corrections are always welcomed.

Mannie