Real or fake Prussian officers helmet?

Z

zeebas101

New member
I recently found this on ebay. The helmet itself looks nice although a bit deformed at the back, but the seller includes a letter signed by Paul von Hindenburg, which I find a bit dubious and makes me doubt the authenticity of the actual helmet. If the letter ends up being fake I don’t mind much, my main focus is the helmet itself.
Thoughts?
 

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Letter like letter nothing unusual.The paper looks old and I doubt that someone would want to fake it. I own an emperor's signature on an officer's patent and it is not some unusual thing.Pickelhaube is nice and just needs straightening.
 

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The helmet is a bit damaged but looks real so far. I would like to see the bolts behind the liner to say more.
Regarding the letter, it doesn’t say it is the helmet of „von Hindenburg“. It is just a thank you writing to Mr. von der Lippe for happy new year wishes. So it has nothing to do with the authenticity of the helmet.
 
The letter is unique. Hindenburg thanks the former officers of the "Oldenburg Infantry Regiment No. 91", whose commander he was from 1893-1896, for the New Year's greeting. Furthermore, he was placed à la suite of the regiment in 1917!(y)
Best regards
Frank
 
Helmet looks ok just needs a little TLC. First impression of the letter is bad, it looks like it was signed with a Sharpe marker. Admittedly I'm no expert on signatures or fountain pens but looks too fresh and dark IMO.
 
Don't forget to consider that the back visor needs to be re-stitched. Brian does a superb job of re-stitching on these helmets.

It's nice to see the seller has switched to listing this item as an actual auction, from his initial offering of it when it had a crazy unrealistic "buy-it-now/best offer" price on it.

Best Wishes,

Alan
 
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