Sorry if this has already been raised.

I felt compelled to highlight this one I spotted on eBay UK today.

The listing title is "WW2 British Helmet - Desert Rats - 1940 - With Liner and Chinstrap".

It has a £50 starting price with one bid already. It just goes to show you can sell almost anything on eBay.

Just maybe… if you were a re-enactor and wanted something which looked genuine then it might be worth having, but £50, really?

Ebay seems to have a steady supply of so called 8th Army desert rat helmets.

Check these pictures for yourself. In my view the desert rat badge painted on the outside is a recent addition. Notice how the inside of the helmet is far worse condition that the outside, another indication the outside has been repainted. The ‘texture’ on the painted outside is probably a result of the same rust you see on the inside. The shell, liner and strap are no doubt from the WW2 period, but that’s about it. I’ve noticed there are several eBay sellers who have developed a technique of making paint look aged or certain ‘patina’ by giving it a kind of thin dark laquer ‘wash’ - some more subtle than others.

There are plenty of un-issued South African made desert issue helmets around so it baffles me why anything with desert paint fetches such high prices. I bought my South African version from a trader at a UK air show in the 1980’s for £14. It was in almost mint un-issued condition and he had several others too. There was even traces of the original brown packing paper stuck to the liner. Shame I didn’t buy more to keep!

Click to enlarge the picture