Salty M40 helmet
Another pick up at last Sunday’s Preston arms fair was this rather salty Heer SD M40 helmet. I didn’t go to the fair with the intention of buying a TR helmet, I stopped buying them several years ago… but when I spotted this I was quite attracted to it. There were others for sale in much better condition than this, and it certainly had nothing to do with price either. But when the light catches it just right, the colours of the remaining paintwork really stand out. So the story goes, it was recently found in a shed amongst other junk on an old workbench. There are splashes of blue paint on it - inside and out, probably the result of some mishap in the shed. The whole outside surface is covered in very light pitting, some of the tongues of the liner have come away, the chinstrap was missing too… the one on it is an aged repro. There is no discernible makers stamp, and only the first and the last two digits of the lot number are readable… ‘1′ followed by a gap of about 10 mm and then ‘74.’ The liner pins are as tight as a fishes arse, and the band has never been tampered with. Some might call this an ‘untouched’ example, but the dictionary definition of untouched is: ‘Not affected, changed, or damaged in any way.’ Helmets like this should really be described as; ‘neglected.’
I’ve been over this helmet very carefully, and there is NO paint in the light pitting. For those of you who look for the ‘right’ amount of wear, this has it by the bucket load… with just enough paint remaining to hint at what it once was.
Cheers,
Steve
