Original Item: Only One Available. This is a very nice and somewhat rare genuine steel construction M35 “Beaded” Third Reich helmet, outfitted for German WWII civic police issue. These helmets were essentially like the Military issue, however the steel was not as high quality. They were given a “bead” around the edge, to avoid mixing them up with the military version. The helmet features genuine double decals of a Police Civic Eagle on the left and an NSDAP Party shield on the right, standard for police issue.
The exterior of this German helmet retains much of the original black paint, though it does show overall wear and oxidation, particularly on the top of the helmet, which is usually the first place for wear to appear. It has a bit of a peppery patina overall, with some areas on the top totally missing paint. The interior paint is better retained, though it definitely also shows areas of paint loss and oxidation. The decals on the helmet are both still very well retained, with the NSDAP Party Shield retained at about 85% with wear and some chipping, while the Police Eagle is a bit better, at 90% with overall wear and a bit missing on the upper right.
The reverse, interior, neck guard apron is batch number stamped 20760, and the interior, left side, apron has a stamped manufacturer’s code and size, E.F.64 indicating that indicating it was manufactured by Emaillierwerke AG, of Fulda Germany in size 64. Size 64 is a nice medium size that can accommodate liners from 56cm to 57cm or US 7 to 7 1/8. Size 64 shells are harder to find and are therefore more valuable to a collector.
The helmet comes with a very nice leather liner with the cork washers and all three split pins still intact. The liner does have some wear around the edge, but it is still supple. The top tie string is still present, however it has torn through the ends of 6 of the fingers, probably due to leather shrinking over the years. There are no markings we can see. It still has a very nice supple black leather chin strap, which shows only light wear to the black finish.
Overall a great opportunity to get a lovely example of a German WWII Beaded M35 Civic Police helmet with a great service used look. Ready to display!