Wanted: Boer war sun helmet

[sgt_leighton]

Does anyone happen to have a Boer war or earlier sun helmet that they are thinking of parting with?
If so please let me know.
Thankyou.

[sgt_leighton]

Does anyone know what I should be looking at paying or how to spot a fake?

[Stuart_Bates]

I saw one go for £1,350 on eBay a couple of weeks ago and I have a contact who wanted A$3,500 for one complete with khaki cover, but I am not sure whether he is still selling.

These helmets come up on a fairly regular basis but it is almost impossible to value them with eBay being in the mix. Collectors selling off their items will always, well mostly, want at least what they paid for them and this can be unrealistic.

The most salient feature in spotting a fake or repro is the ventilation around the leather headband and between it and the helmet shell. No ventilation, no buy is my credo. There should also be two internal hooks to take the chinstrap or chinchain and a chinstrap fixed in place is therefore a no-no.

If the helmet has a puggaree then it should be contemporary with the helmet and by that I mean that it looks to be of the same age as the helmet and properly fitted. Fitting a puggaree was a very skilful trade in those days.

Stuart
http://www.militarysunhelmets.com

[Stuart_Bates]

I was alerted to this one on eBay http://www.ebay.com/itm/Royal-Dragoons- ... 1170629196

A very interesting helmet and it appears to be genuine. I wonder at the puggaree though as why wear a khaki one on a white helmet? The external hooks are also interesting and to boot it is a 4-seamer with a 4 seam cover. The shape of the flash could be 1st Dragoons but there is no evidence of a rosette having been affixed (see attached). The other two variants of the flash were horizontal rectangles.

Stuart

1st (Royal) Dragoons flash Boer War 2.jpg (66.76 KiB) Viewed 777 times

[Stuart_Bates]

Having looked at that eBay helmet again I have the following further points to make -

1. The WD stamp to the khaki cover does not appear to be correct for the period as "21" is not a valid year
2. The stitching to the chinchain does not seem contemporary to the condition of the chinchain itself
3. The puggaree is amateurishly fitted (could have been done by the soldier I guess) or dropped on from another helmet intact but does not seem contemporary to the helmet and as I said why khaki on a white helmet.

The actual helmet itself does, however, appear to be good.

Stuart

[sgt_leighton]

Having looked at that eBay helmet again I have the following further points to make -

1. The WD stamp to the khaki cover does not appear to be correct for the period as "21" is not a valid year
2. The stitching to the chinchain does not seem contemporary to the condition of the chinchain itself
3. The puggaree is amateurishly fitted (could have been done by the soldier I guess) or dropped on from another helmet intact but does not seem contemporary to the helmet and as I said why khaki on a white helmet.

The actual helmet itself does, however, appear to be good.

Stuart

Thankyou for your good advice Stuart, I think that you are 100% right, the helmet is original the rest looks wrong and looking at the who is selling it I can tell you that parts of this helmet have most likely been faked!
I bought a 1851 London Colt navy from the same person ,and it turned out to be an out and out fake!, the barrel was the only part original, apart from the re-stamped serial number.
And as ever from this seller it's over priced!!!

I have been offered a helmet for £700 but there is no ink stamps inside it?

[Stuart_Bates]

I missed the seller when I first looked at the helmet but when I realised who it was I had a really good look at the item. I was engaged in correspondence with Andrew over a couple of items recently, one of which was out and out rubbish and the other was a famous General's uniform complete with a Royal Navy cocked hat. However, I could not convince him to alter any of his descriptions and nor would he "publish" my comments.

Definitely one to be wary of.

Stuart