Original German WWII M40 Single Decal Luftwaffe Helmet by Quist with Size 60cm Liner – Q68 Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. This is an excellent all original example of a Model 1940 German WW2 helmet, with a single Luftwaffe Eagle decal. This stamped sheet steel construction helmet retains over 95% of the original blue/gray lightly textured Luftwaffe paint and is in excellent condition overall. The decal is retained at 98%, with very minor wear to the wing tips. This is one of the best helmets of this type that we have seen.

On the reverse of the shell’s interior, the neck guard apron is lot number stamped, 7787 and has a stamped manufacturer’s code over the left ear and size, Q68 indicating it was manufactured by Quist in the German city of Esslingen. Size 68 is a nice extra large size that can accommodate liners from 60cm to 61cm or US 7 1/2 to 7 5/8.  Size 68 shells are much harder to find and are therefore more valuable to a collector.

All three original liner retaining pins are intact and have complete original paint on the ends. The interior of the helmet still has an original very good M31 leather liner with all eight fingers present and still supple. The liner band is aluminum, with square aluminum chin strap loops attached to reinforced sides. This is the last pattern before the move to galvanized steel bands. The left exterior liner band over the left ear is marked 68 n.A / 60, indicating that this is a size 58 liner for a size 66 shell. There is also a faint size 60 stamped on one finger. The right side displays the full manufacture information, as well as a date:

SCHUBERTH-WERKE K.-G.
D.R.P.
1939
BRAUNSCHWEIG

The chin strap is complete, and in very good condition. The leather is soft and supple, though it definitely has some wear.

Overall an excellent condition genuine M40 Single Decal Luftwaffe helmet! This is an item that will only continue to appreciate in value over time.

The first “modern” steel helmets were introduced by the French army in early 1915 and were shortly followed by the British army later that year. With plans on the drawing board, experimental helmets in the field, (“Gaede” helmet), and some captured French and British helmets the German army began tests for their own steel helmet at the Kummersdorf Proving Grounds in November, and in the field in December 1915. An acceptable pattern was developed and approved and production began at Eisen-und Hüttenwerke, AG Thale/Harz, (Iron and Foundry Works), in the spring of 1916.

These first modern M16 helmets evolved into the M18 helmets by the end of WWI. The M16 and M18 helmets remained in usage through-out the Weimar Reichswehr, (National Defence Force, Circa 1919-1933), era and on into the early years of the Third Reich until the development of the smaller, lighter M35 style helmet in June 1935.

In 1934 tests began on an improved Stahlhelm, whose design was a development of World War I models. The Eisenhüttenwerke company of Thale carried out prototype design and testing, with Dr. Friedrich Schwerd once again taking a hand.

The new helmet was pressed from sheets of molybdenum steel in several stages. The size of the flared visor and skirt was reduced, and the large projecting lugs for the obsolete armor shield were eliminated. The ventilator holes were retained, but were set in smaller hollow rivets mounted to the helmet’s shell. The edges of the shell were rolled over, creating a smooth edge along the helmet. Finally, a completely new leather suspension, or liner, was incorporated that greatly improved the helmet’s safety, adjustability, and comfort for each wearer. These improvements made the new M1935 helmet lighter, more compact, and more comfortable to wear than the previous designs.

The Army’s Supreme Command officially accepted the new helmet on June 25, 1935 and it was intended to replace all other helmets in service.

More than 1 million M1935 helmets were manufactured in the first two years after its introduction, and millions more were produced until 1940 when the basic design and production methods were changed. This mainly involved adding the vent hole to the stamping process, as opposed to adding the rivet later.