German Helmet Value?

[Gil Boyd]

I can only give advice from a museum perspective concerning original German WW2 helmets.
The amount is really in terms of rarity, 100% original and its condition, which this appears to be, and most importantly what someone is willing to pay for it.

These are more common of course then say a Fallschirmjager helmet. We have one in our Airborne Forces museum valued at $40,000 dollars by a collector in the States. Clearly ours would never be for sale.

It has the wearers name in it with full provenance.

Certainly with your fathers story of recovery it will certainly help raise the price if selling is what you wish to do with it.
My advice would be to write down the story, and keep it in the family. Thats the true value of it.....true history............ that once its gone into collector circles, it will never be repeated!
Worth Insuring for $3500 at the very least
IMHO

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[GolfBravoUSMC]

It has the wearers name in it with full provenance.

There is no provenance but this helmet does have the initials WD inside the rear skirt near the liner. I believe this to be the initials of a German soldier/owner since these initials do not match any in our family. My father's initials were WWB and mine are GB. No one else has been in possession of this helmet.

My father was a 60mm Mortarman with the 120th Infantry Regiment of the 30th Division. He landed on Omaha beach D-Day plus 6 and fought all the way to the end of the War at the Elbe in Germany. This included the Battle of the Bulge where his unit was in Malmedy. He survived both the Germans who retreated December 22nd and the American Bombers which bombed the city full of GIs four times on December 23rd and 24th (Blue on Blue).

There were other items besides the helmet that have been lost. The Officer's Tunic that my dad took with the helmet was so small I could not button it when I was a 150lb teenager. There was also a gas mask and a truncheon. I had the helmet in my possession but the other items were with my mother before she died and were not present when we cleaned out her house. I believe she gave them away.

[Gil Boyd]

Nice story and provenance there. My advice for what its worth insure it and get it behind glass in a display cabinet in the house and treasure it as a family keepsake for a brave man!

[rayg]

Certainly with your fathers story of recovery it will certainly help raise the price if selling is what you wish to do with it.
My advice would be to write down the story, and keep it in the family. Thats the true value of it.....true history............ that once its gone into collector circles, it will never be repeated!
Worth Insuring for $3500 at the very least
IMHO

Good advice, write down the story and either have it witnessed and dated by a notary or some one else in your family. Ray

[Gil Boyd]

Ray,
Certainly right there. I hear so many stories where relations have an absolute "Spielberg" film making stories, that are magnificent, only to then say, "I wish I had got Dad to write it down and fill in the details of where he got that and where it happened". Often when they bring something to the museum with real meaning and credibility of a battle, sometimes, that missing piece changes history and puts it right!!!!

Sad but true, and we have only scratched the surface of some of the stories of the true heroes of WW2 and beyond.