Helmet info

[Ramswin]

Hello.
I have an opportunity to pick up this helmet at an auction.
Can any one tell me exactly what it is and what it may be worth?
Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

Steve

 

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[diggummup]

It looks like a French Gendarmerie helmet. It's hard to tell without more photos but it looks like it's similar to this one- http://www.decalhelmet.com/description.php?id=390&lang=2
Could be an m51 or m51/56 or even an F1, need more photos. My eyes nor my expertise isn't that good.

I wouldn't pay much for it myself. $20-$40, but i'm no expert.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

I think the decalhelmet.com website's info about that particular helmet is partially incorrect. The "flaming bombshell" emblem has been the insignia of the Artillery Ordnance Department of the French Army for the past two centuries. (Also, as a token of respect for French assistance in the RevWar and the prowess of the french Army under Napoleon, the US Army adopted the "flaming bombshell" emblem for its Ordnance Corps buttons in 1832, and that emblem remained on US Ordnance Corps buttons until 1902.)

According to Wikipedia, Gendarmerie is a French word for "a military force charged with police duties among civilian populations." It seems strange that the emblem of the French Artillery Ordnance Department would be on a helmet intended for Gendarmerie use. Still, I suppose anything is possible in the French army. ;-)

But at least Ramswin (the original poster) will now know what the emblem on that helmet represents. The letters "RF" on the emblem presumably stand for "Republique Francais" ...meaning, the Republic Of France.

 

[diggummup]

Yes, anything is possible in France. I was going by the shape of the helmet and the very dark blue color of it with the gold guilded flaming bomb as opposed to the military combat helmets where the insignia and helmet were more of a blue-gray painted color. In France, the National Gendarmerie is also a military police/provost force. Stylized pictures of early grenades emitting a flame (aka flaming bombs), are used as ornaments on military uniforms in France (esp. French Gendarmerie and the French Army). I think it is an M-51 helmet used by the National Gendarmerie. Here is another example-
http://www.dropzonemilitary.com/product.php?xProd=80



Regardless, it aint worth much money.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Diggummup, thank you for the additional educational info.

In particular, I noted that the seemingly identical helmet at the decalhelmet.com website is marked with a 1966 manufacturing-date. I agree, not lkely to be worth much money.

Speaking of "anything is possible" in French territory:
About 20 years ago, I attended a "sponsored" relic-digging trip to the French Caribbean islands. We got busted for digging at a colonial-era fort -- so I have some personal experience with the Gendarmerie. That French Caribbean island's Ministry of Tourism had given us official permission to bring detectors and dig ...but the Gendarmes didn't know that. When the permission-letter was shown to them, the Gendarmes let us go, but confiscated all the relics we'd found that day.

Always a good idea to have your "papers" from the Powers-That-Be near at hand when you go digging in another country.