Have just received a ww2, 2nd pattern Afrika korps pith helmet, and would like you, much more experienced guys to take a look to make sure I have the real deal or not. 
from what I can see in very few books or online the majority of it looks legit, but I want to see if anyone has an issue with it. 
I notice on front underside of sweatband

maybe a old glue that looks dark 🤷‍♂️
thankyou

 

 

I like it.

Thanks Marshall, so in your experience you have seen many like this?

online, even at auction houses I have seen the majority look like this, ink stamp sizes and year, embossed JHS, it’s sometimes hard to know if all ww2 parts as there really isn’t any definitive  answers on the liners in these things anywhere, so you have to be cautious in this industry. But,

The stitching has come off apart from the back part of the liner, that’s what’s holding it in place and parts of the sweatband the stitches have come off the cradle as such but it’s clean. 

So yours is the 2nd pattern. It was never used in Afrika. It was used in the Mediterranean area. It is an original helmet but after the war hundreds were found in storage. So they were plentiful for years after the war. I cannot comment on the shields without seeing the back but if I were you I would not remove them for fear of breaking the pins.

Yes ive been reading that these were very rare to have shown up in Africa, mostly Greece, Italy Malta and parts of southern France....

 

Thats OK, still original 1942 good condition pith. I did examine the shields....the paint on the shield etc doesn't go over the edges (which is what you would find on repainted shields by amateurs) So they are clean in that regard, and I didn't want to take of the shields either as what i can see on the inside they are well pinned on and don't want to chance breaking them either..... tell me tho, were the holes pre-drilled for the shields on these helmets or were they just made when the pins pierced the helmet?

 

Anyway, thanks for your reply

I had to replace missing ones over the years and rarely the replacement shields line up to the existing holes. It's my opinion they were punched at the time of installation, but I could be wrong..