Posted 10 years ago
kozowy1967
(25 items)
One of my morning rituals is to check new listings on E-bay and specific dealer sights every morning while I have my morning coffee before work and so a couple of months back while checking through E-bay low and behold I found this Mk II had just been listed for sale with a $50 GBP starting price with no bids it was listed as a WW II TYPE RAMC HELMET with no further description from the seller it was apparent by the images posted on E-Bay that the helmet body,chinstrap and liner were indeed that of a Canadian Mk II he had listed for sale.
I immediately sent of two e-mails one to a friend and fellow advanced collector that has a fairly mint un-issued four panel medic helmet in his private collection that I have been trying to talk him out of for some time now and one to the seller and asked him what he needed out of the deal he informed me of what his expectations were and so we struck up a deal and he pulled the listing from E-bay .
This particular Mk II struck a cord in me it was like a light bulb had been turned on as I thought it looked dam familiar and was possibly one of three helmets that is thought to have came out of a crate that was found in the US a number of years back .
Two of which were acquired by a friend and fellow collector and his companion I knew there was speculation the third helmet had found it's way into the market place It was not till much later in the day that my friend was was able to reply.
Mark,
If you can buy this helmet, DO IT! I know this one, where it came from and will explain in detail tomorrow. It is the brother to mine .
By this time the deal had already been done and I wrote him another email to inform him I had purchased this Mk II based on my own gut feelings as well as from the many detailed conversations and images he had sent me some time ago while discussing his four panel Mk II medics helmet the next morning he relayed how the helmets were found and by whom.
Hi Mark,
This is the missing third helmet that came out of the same lot as mine. The fellow who found them in a crate is an eccentric collector/dealer in Montana whom I've since become friends with.
In short, he found three helmet bodies mint in the crate, one sold on E-Bay (yours I suspect), I got one and my friend Terry got the third).
I know as a collector to never buy the story and that an item should be judged on it's own merits this particular Canadian Mk II was produced by C.L./C. and is dated to 1943 steel lot batch number 103 it is sporting a 1942 dated VMC liner in 6 3/4 and has a wartime era issued Canadian chinstrap that is nicely C-/l\ marked the white circlets do show definite yellowing age and discoloration with a few small nicks scratches and scuffs in the paint
and the light tell tale signs of helmet stacking on the one side wear it would appear another helmet had been sitting on it for some time by far this has been one of the hardest helmets I have ever tried to photograph do to the white in the circlets it is very hard to find a happy medium with no glare.
There are few known war time examples and they are widely faked.
Regards Mark K
Fantastic Mark
Thanx Macca I have added to this grouping recently I will try and post some images this evening.
Regards Mark