Sharp M34 Medium Duty Sicherheitsdienst Double Decal Helmet
$6,800.00
In his research within the German Bundesarchiv in the 1960s, Ludwig Baer discovered that these helmets were initially meant to compete with the M31 design, on a national level. This is why so many of them appear with Heer decals as well as SS. The M31, presented in prototype by Eisenhuttenwerke Thale, beat the M34 design and won the bid for M31 helmet production (in the form of the Model 1935) for the armed forces of Germany. As an aside, ErEl and other firms floated vulkanfiber helmet designs to the high command procurement as prototype combat helmets as well). Since Edelstahl and Thalestahl had made so many of these helmets, they marketed them to the SS who found them useful as a police / SD type of head protection ideal for urban and semi-rural anti-‘enemy of the state’ operations. The Heer and Luftwaffe could and did obtain these helmets in limited numbers for officer parade use. This SD helmet is a nice example, showing a crisp edelstahl stamp, solid condition paint, decals and liner / strap. These helmets are fully a part of the SS historical repertoire, used in camps, Einsatzgruppen, combat (limited) and parades, like so many other SS helmets. They deserve as much a place in SS collections as any other, in my view. Price includes my 100% lifetime guarantee of authenticity
