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RETURN TO HELMET COLLECTION PAGE HELMET COLLECTORS WEBPAGESandLINKS TO HELMET BOOKSUpdated 14th January 2008 This is a list of helmet collectors webpages,
all I know of as of the above date. Many links and searches for 'helmets' and 'helmet collection' go to dealers rather than collectors; dealers pages can certainly be good for pictures and information (often accurate - but don't necessarily bet your life on it or use their valuations as the absolute truth) but what I'm interested in is enthusiastic collectors, helmet fans, individuals who are doing this for fun rather than profit, people who take pleasure and interest in their collections. And who like to talk about them too, without trying to sell you something. Many of these pages are quite excellent - several are brilliant, both in design and content. Some may be a bit neglected but still worth a look. Have a look at these helmet web pages, and tell us what you think. And if you know of any I haven't listed, please let me know and I'll add them as soon as possible. I know a lot of collectors can't be bothered to use these resources - well, that's their loss. They probably can't be bothered to get the right reference books either. Let them wallow in ignorance - be one up and actually GO TO these pages, read, absorb, and learn. And remember, knowledge is fun! The order of listing is not significant,
except that newer finds are usually at the top. At least one of
the best sites is well down the list, so read the whole thing! Unless specified otherwise, please assume that these pages have information on a variety of helmets from all countries. JUKKA JUUTILAINEN's webpage - http://www.saunalahti.fi/cabpilot/index.htm I was most pleased to see that JJ has recently revitalised his whole webpage, and importantly for us helmetters has reintroduced some elements of his helmet collection alongside his main interest in aircraft and aviation helmets. This page is a real delight; enormously enjoyable and informative. It's what the web is for! PAUL WINDASS' COLLECTION - http://www.tinlids.piczo.com/?cr=4 Really super webpage from Paul, a British collector; it's a good international collection, well photographed, and most entertainingly presented. Some excellent laugh-out-loud asides in the text. Done within the template of a picture-sharing website so it looks a bit odd in places, but that's no real criticism. Highly recomended! DUTCH HELMETS - http://artaid812.blogspot.com/ A page from a Dutch collector specialising in, obviously, Dutch helmets. It is done within the framework of a blog, so is, to be honest, a bit more difficult to navigate than one might hope. However, the pictures and accompanying text are all excellent and this is a page to be welcomed and used often by anyone with an enthusiasm for Dutch helmets. Like me, for example. Iano, the constructor, deserves praise for this site, though I do wish he would reconstruct it in something other than a prefabricated blog template. It deserves better. DIE STAHLHELMSAMMLUNG - http://www.stahlhelmsammlung.de/ This page has been in construction off and on for years now, sometimes disappearing completely, but it is now well under way. In German, and concentrating exclusively on German helmets from the pickelhaube onwards, it is well constructed and holds out great hope to those of us who want to get more information on post-WW2 German helmets. But not yet...(January 2008, this site of offline, listed as Under Construction.) STEEL POTS (Chris Arnold) WEBPAGE I was really quite surprised to find that Chris Arnold had closed this site as of early 2007, saying (and I quote from the single page remaining at this address) "I have no more to add regarding the history of American combat helmets". That's a peculiar thing to say as although there may indeed be no more for him to add those pages were an interesting and useful resource for helmet enthusiasts worldwide. An odd decision. I almost feel afraid he's going to come round and ask for my copy of STEEL POTS back now, too. It always disappoints me when good information is removed from the web for no sensible reason. And that was not a sensible reason. ELMETTO - MICHELE TAGLIAVINI'S HELMET SITE - http://www.elmetto.net/EN/main.htm A very pleasing site by Italian collector, resident in England, Michele Tagliavini. Elegantly and clearly organised, it's a pleasure to browse through. Of particular interest is the section titled 'Articles' wherein you will find excellent little essays by Roger Lucy on post-WW2 European M1 clones, Bruno Murgia (Odyssios) on the Yugoslav NE44, Michele himself on the Italian M33, and more. Very useful stuff and clearly presented material, essential information for collectors. Not much in the way of information or pictures on Michele's own collection but otherwise a highly recommended site! (NB the URL above takes you directly to the English-language version of the site - it is also available in Italian.) THE IRISH VICKERS 1927 HELMET - http://meltingpot.fortunecity.com/utah/894/VickersM1927a.htm A very nicely presented and detailed page about the history of the Vickers 1927, and the restoration of an example. Very good webpage from Mike Sullivan, an example to us all. A HELMET COLLECTION - http://www.helmets.ru/ OK, I admit it, I can't read Russian at all, especially when it's in Cyrillic. However, this is a well constructed (as far as I can tell!) page from a Russian collector (can't even work out his name!) who has a lot of helmets and has provided very good detailed photos of them. Well worth a look, especially if you have good language skills. MILITARIA COLLECTING - DDR MILITARIA - http://pactedevarsovie.free.fr/ Slightly peculiar site, it seems to come out of France but is almost entirely devoted to DDR (East German) material, with a couple of pages with some detailed information with good pictures on DDR helmets. In English. JEROEN POLLENTIER'S COLLECTION - http://www.geocities.com/jeroenpollentier/ A well-presented personal collection, nicely written and with good photographs. BRITISH A.R.P. HELMETS - http://www.nbcd.org.uk/arp/equipment/helmets.asp Part of a much larger site by a British collector and historian, this section has some really fascinating info on the helmets used by the Air Raid protection units during WW2. Definately worth a look, and contains a lot of quite mind-boggling stuff about the whole world of civil defence kit. MSGRENOT - FRENCH HELMETS - http://msgrenot.free.fr/ Another French-language site devoted to the casque francais, covering the whole period from the original Adrian up to today. Well constructed, and even I can (fairly) easily understand the clearly written descriptions and notes. LA COLECCION DEL FEDE - http://espanol.geocities.com/himmler77/index.html A site from Spain, by a character who obviously has a substantial collection of military headwear from around the world. Not the most elegantly designed site I have seen, it is slow loading and awkward to navigate, but like any helmet site it will no doubt repay our perseverance. GERMAN HELMET.COM - http://www.germanhelmet.com For all those whose fascination is with the stahlhelm, here's a page from someone who is essentially a dealer, but that seems to have sound information on the helmet's history and useful knowledge for spotting the real among the fakes. Nicely produced website; clearly knowledgable and enthusiastic, and with a good gallery of pictures. M1 HELMETS - J MURRAY - http://jmurrayinc1944.com/index.htm Another dealer, repro and resto mainly, but there's a 'Virtual Museum' section of the real thing, for those of your who can't get enough of the 'steel pot'. (Sometimes I wonder if I developed an interest in Swedish and Dutch helmets just because there is so much absorbtion in the Wehrmacht and the M1) COMBAT HELMETS - http://nuke.combat-helmets.com/ An excellent site by Italian collector Jaberon, covering his wide interest in international helmets. Well constructed, good notes, excellent photos. And in English too! OK, it's partly a sales site, but on the other hand the information is solid and of course we all buy helmets occasionally! Recommended wholeheartedly, (Do I get a discount now?) (That's a joke...honest...) WWW.M1HELMET.COM - http://www.m-1helmet.com/ "This website which is entirely dedicated to the fixed bale M-1 helmet of the WW2 US GI. " That's what it says at the entrance to this site and it does exactly what it say on the tin. Very nicely laid out, full of information, good photographs. What more do you want. OK, it isn't as comprehensive for US helmets generally as Chris Arnold's now-vanished Steel Pots site, but within its self-imposed limitations it is easily as good or better. Also includes information on a new (2007) book on, yes, you guessed, the fixed-bale M1 !WORLD WAR 2 HELMET REFERENCE PAGE - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gastein/ Gert Stein, a Netherlands collector, has a very good site here. Covers only British and Dutch WW2 and before helmets at the moment, but is very well designed with fine photographs and is easily navigable. Good information well presented. LA GRANDE GUERRE - http://hcapelli.free.fr/ This French-language site appears to concentrate on the 1914-18 war, however, follow the left-hand menu and you will find it has some good pages on the helmets used by all combatants. In French, but pictures are universal language. RUSSIAN HELMETS - http://www.personal.kent.edu/~rclawson/RussianHelmets/index.html A small but very useful website by the expert Robert Clawson, with some updates and addenda to his excellent book RUSSIAN HELMETS - see below in the 'Books' section for information. MY MUSEUM - http://sebastien.thuon.free.fr/mymuseum/ A French-language site - though with a hint that an English-language version may appear, although the English-language button is dead at the moment.. Sebastien has an extensive collection, particularly of French helmets of all eras. The site is intricately designed, with a lot of good photographs, and a neat slide-show method of presentation, but some of the photos in it are a little small. A good site, well worth checking regularly for updates and changes. Please note - using my favoured browser (Firebird) I can find only one small hotlink to get into the body of the site - click persistently in a small area just above the bend in at the lower left side of the helmet picture. Annoying really - the whole helmet ought to be showing as a hotlink. And indeed it does in Internet Explorer. I hate Internet Explorer... MATS' HELMETS - http://hem.bredband.net/runmat/index.html From Mats Rundqvist in Sweden, in part concentrating on the easily overlooked but important area of helmet covers. I've learned quite a lot - just what you want from a website! Design is simple, the pictures are excellent, and the text informative. LES CASQUES - http://members.aol.com/elrousa/page.htm OK, I admit it, I can't make much sense out of this large website, but I have concluded that it is philately-based, and that it has one section devoted to helmets on stamps. Incredible but true. It's amazing. I wish my reading-French was better so that I could appreciate this site properly. Take a look, it will surprise you. (NB - page onwards from my given start page by keying 'Suite' in the bottom right corner. MILITARY HELMETS OF THE WORLD - http://www.quanonline.com/military/military_reference/helmets/helmets.html A rather odd site, from a dealer in the Southwest USA, who seems to be trying to incorporate real information as well as sales material on his website. There are some very good large pictures of some quite rare US helmets and other interesting helmet-material. But take care when reading his captions and information - they are not always accurate, and some of his valuations are wildly over-optimistic on the high side. REG'S LIDS - http://www.richardeg.com/Helmets/Helmet_Index.html A small site from a militaria fan in the British Isles - nicely laid out, and good photography. KAISERSBUNKER HELMETS A site devoted to Great War (1914-18) history, with two sections of interest to helmet fans - the first is on the helmets used by the Canadian Expeditionary Force, the second to the various forms of helmet used by the German Imperial Army. Nicely done pages. PETER SUCIU'S HELMET AND MILITARIA COLLECTION - http://www.nyc-techwriters.com/militaria/helmets.htm A site from a collector in the USA - well designed, informative, and obviously enthusiastic. Some excellent pictures, well displayed, the site is regularly updated so check frequently. A large and rapidly increasing collection so you're very likely to find something new everytime you visit. JACOB ANDREASEN'S WEBSITE - http://www.ww2-militaria.dk/ A Danish collector whose interest seems to be mainly full uniforms and combat kit - but he does feature a number of helmets, WW2 German and Danish. A well constructed site, very good photographs. In Danish. ALEX D'S CASQUES DE COMBAT - http://alexdhelmet.free.fr/ An excellent website, regularly revised with more pictures added. Lots of excellent photographs, but very little text. Alex has a great knowledge of helmets, especially French. Please note - you can usually get more than one picture of the helmets by hovering your cursor over the 'master' picture. Nicely organised site - clever web-design! FRENCH HELMETS - http://salg71.free.fr/index.html "De l'Adrian au Spectra, les casques de l'armée française." Exactement! This site is French-language only, but well worth the effort. Regularly updated and reworked, now including a lot of information on post-WW2 French helmets. Very well designed. MARKKU KARVONEN'S HELMETS - http://www.pottia.net/ An excellent site, the photographs are excellent, brilliantly clear, and Markku has a continually growing and very interesting collection. The site is updated regularly. I really like Markku's site - I wish I could do so well. In Finnish and English. Highly recommended. STEFAN'S HELMET PAGES - http://www.geocities.com/mil4sale/index.html Stefan is a Swedish helmet collector in both senses, and there are lots of good images of Swedish helmets here, including some unusual and rare early models, and this site also includes some clear information on the evolution of the Swedish liners. Certainly well worth visiting. TEODOR'S BULGARIAN HELMETS - http://helmet.0catch.com/ Mostly Bulgarian helmets and helmet history - with a section on Ted's 'other' items including his own collection - this site has good clear photography and excellent informative text. I learned a lot from this site, it's full of reliable information. The first stop for anyone with any interest in Bulgar helmets! Not updated for a couple of years, but still valuable. FINNISH HELMET JUNKYARD - http://netti.nic.fi/~junkyard/helmets.html I can't tell whether this is from a helmet fan or a Finnish militaria enthusiast, but there's useful knowledge here. GERMAN HELMETS 1916-60 - http://meltingpot.fortunecity.com/utah/894/helmethistory.htm Simply a tabulated list, no photographs, but may help in understanding and identifying the various German types from the pickelhaube up to the Bundeswehr steel helmets. HELMET COLLECTORS/YAHOO - http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/militaryhelmetcollectorsclub A helmet collectors mailing list. Can be very informative and useful, especially to beginning collectors who are looking for basic information. I joined in 1999 and am now Moderator ! GERMAN WW1 HELMETS IN THE FINNISH ARMY - http://home.tiscali.be/be033830/jukka/jukkahelmetgallery.htm An excellent contribution to a website from Jukka Juutilainen, who later abandoned his interest in steel helmets for a fascination with aviation headgear. Exceptional detail, everything you might need to know. BIBLIOGRAPHY OF HELMET-RELATED BOOKS - http://www.sjvls.org/bens/bf004hl.htm Some very useful bibliographic information on helmet books and websites, remarkably similar to this one.....maybe because I contributed to it! This page has not been updated since 2003, and unfortunately they have ignored emails updating the information. ODYSSEIOS' HELMET COLLECTION - http://it.geocities.com/odysseios Odysseios is an Italian collector, and this is a record of his growing collection. Good photos, but could have a little more text and detail. In Italian. Has a lot of photographs of 'soft' military headwear. JOSEBA'S COLLECTION - http://www.cascoscoleccion.com/portada.htm Yes, he's el Jefe! The scope and depth of this site is constantly surprising. It's well-designed, detailed, with loads of historical background, technical detail, and fine photographs. Truly, it is a benchmark we could all do well to aim at. And it is regularly updated and improved on a monthly basis. Superb ! It has one minor drawback for poorly-educated British people (and idle sods in any other country you care to name) - and that is that it is solely in Spanish...but buy a dictionary, use Babelfish - http://babelfish.altavista.com/ . It is worth a bit of work to get the best from this site. A Masterpiece, absolutely the best helmet site on the web. Check back regularly. It really is that good! GERMAN HELMETS - http://www.german-helmets.com/ A very well designed site solely devoted to German helmets. If you want to know and can't read Baer in the original, you'll find it here - in fact, you'll find corrections to Baer here. A fine site, highly recommended. FINNISH WAR HELMETS - http://www.mosinnagant.net/finland/Finn-Helmets.asp Part of a site on other militaria, this has some fascinating text and photos of, yes, Finnish helmets! Please note - some of the image links on this do NOT work properly - they still have the prefix of the old URL which included moisin-nagant. If you change the address into your location bar to remove the dash between 'mosin' and 'nagant' (that is to be 'moisinnagant'they will come up fine! WW2 MEDIC HELMETS - http://home.att.net/~medichelmet/ Part of the web-presence of Alain Batens, a Belgian collector , primarily of US armycombat-medic related items. It's detailed and quite fascinating - he must have an extraordinary collection. Try following up on other related articles via this site - there's a cornucopia of WW2 information there. I found this site - http://home.hetnet.nl/~oostvogels/milit-eng.htm - via such a search. It is quite fascinating. MILITARY CAPS AND HELMETS - http://www.arrakis.es/~boisan/index.htm A Spanish collector's site - mostly military headgear other than helmets, but well produced and detailed, well worth a visit. In English and Spanish. Lots of links to other military and other hat and headgear collectors - it's a whole new world! OLD SMITHY MILITARIA - http://www.old-smithy.info/my_militaria/helmets/HelmetHome.htm This site is mostly devoted to other kinds of militaria, particularly edged weapons, but there is a small and worthwhile helmet presence. The picture links seem slow-loading, but persevere. MILITARIA COLLECTOR - http://militaria.collector.free.fr/Sommaire/Sommaire.htm This is part of Lionel Giffaud's larger militaria site. The bits most interesting to helmet collectors are the sections on US and German helmets. In French. DENNIS LAURITSEN'S COLLECTION - http://www.military-helmet.com/index.html A cheerful and enthusiastic page from an obviously keen Danish collector. Helmets from all over the world. In Danish, mostly. Many of the helmet photographs, unfortunately, are not particularly good. But I like his enthusiasm! GERMAN HELMETS INC - http://www.germanhelmetsinc.com/ Mostly a business site, selling restored and repro helmets, but there's a lot that will interest and inform anyone fascinated with the German WW2 helmet series, particularly in Ken Niewiarowicz' own collection gallery. Personally, I'm much more interested in the Bundeswehr period, but than that's me out of step as usual, I guess.------- (To find websites that have been removed, or to see earlier versions of existing sites go to the Internet Archive Wayback Machine at http://www.archive.org/web/web.php and entering the URL at the Wayback Machine/Take me Back panel (remember to remove duplicate instances of 'http://'!) and then selecting any instance of the dates offered you will, after a certain amount of time best given over to contemplation of all the foolish things you have done today, get something interesting, as if by magic. ) -------- and now some links to sites where you can buy helmet books - THE DUTCH STEEL HELMET 1916-1946 - Kevin de Joode - http://www.bataafscheleeuw.nl/ A really superb book, that fulfilled all my expectations. This will tell you everything you need to know about Dutch helmets within the period specified. And gives a small but vital amount of information on the Dutch helmets used by the Romanians too ! It's only fault is that it doesn't cover the post-WW2 era. Volume 2, or a website supplement perhaps? Very highly recommended. It is available in two editions, Dutch and English. The English translation is excellent. Please note - the publishers do not take online payments. But do not be put off! Just order the book through the website (see below for instructions) and they will send the book with an invoice. You can then pay either by bank transfer if that is available to you, or by sending cash in Euros (easily available from any bank or Bureau de Change). To order the English-language edition of this book - go to the website, choose "Assortimement" from the headers, scroll down the next page and find 'Internationaal', scroll down to 'The Dutch Steel Helmet' and click on it. On the detail page for the book click on 'Besteldit boek' ('Buy this book') and then fill in your mailing information on the next panel. Click 'Verzenden' to order. Then re-read the previous paragraph. ELMETTI / HELMETS - PAOLO MARZETTI - http://www.tuttostoria.it The fourth edition of Marzetti's absolutely essential helmet encyclopedia was published in September 2003, and is widely available from specialist bookdealers (but not Amazon!). You can also easily get it from Tuttostoria, in Italy. Their website address is given above, and the specific page for the Marzetti book is http://www.tuttostoria.it/specificheing.asp?ID=366. or choose 'Military Uniforms' from the left-hand links list. Contact them at info@tuttostoria.it for the current price including postage to wherever you are. I bought mine in October 2003 and it cost 66 euro including postage to the United Kingdom. This edition is a great leap forward from the third edition - being at least 40 percent larger for a start, as well as completely redesigned, and now including some colour pictures. It's updated to mid-2003. No doubt, this is an essential and very valuable reference for all helmet fans. I recommend it without reservation. There is said to be Fifth Edition in the near future. No news as of July 2007. CASQUES DE COMBAT - THE ENCYCLOPEDIA - http://members.aol.com/ustyre29/CASC/ Apart from Marzetti this is the other really important helmet book ! But unfortunately OUT OF PRINT now! The webpage still exists, but information (in May 2006) from co-editor Yves Plasseraud confirms that no copies are available. I suggest you try any means (including ABE ) to get a set - and do not delay. The price is big, but so are the books. Editors Pierre-Paul Struye, Jean Dagnas and Yves Plasseraud have produced a wonderful thing here. Any serious helmet fan should have these. I've had mine for years and learned an enormous amount from the. RUSSIAN HELMETS - http://www.bender-publishing.com/ On this publisher's site you will find Robert Clawson's excellent book RUSSIAN HELMETS - FROM KASKA TO STALSHLYEM 1916-2001. A fine book which does exactly what it says on the cover. Worth every penny, and I use it frequently for both information and simple pleasure in the author's enthusiasm. If only there were a similar book on every other nation's helmets, especially the British! NB to specialist collectors and publishers - we really need a comprehensive book on British helmets! Where is Marcus Cotton? Unfortunately there is no simple 'Search' facility on the Bender site - either scroll down endlessly keeping your eyes open, or enter something like "Russian" in the Find-In-Page box and keep looking. STEEL POTS - http://www.bender-publishing.com/ Still on the Bender books site, where you will also find details of Chris Arnold's two excellent books on the US helmets STEEL POTS and PAINTED STEEL. Alas STEEL POTS is listed as Out Of Print, so with the incomprehensible removal of Arnold's website there is a real problem for anyone wanting solid information on the whole spectrum of US-used steel helmets. Bender's English-language translation of Ludwig Baer's HISTORY OF THE GERMAN STEEL HELMET, is also listed as Out of Print. U.S. COMBAT HELMETS - http://www.schifferbooks.com/newschiffer/ At the Schiffer Books website you will find a variety of fine books by Mark A Reynosa covering many aspects of US helmets. Well worth acquiring as they give detailed information that may be lacking in the more encyclopedic Casques de Combat or Marzetti. They are sufficiently different in tone, emphasis, and illustration to the Arnold books to be essential complements. Mark Reynosa's website is at http://www.helmets.mar-prod.com/ FINNISH HELMETS - http://www.mpkk.fi/en/museum/contact/ Here you should find enough information to make contact with the kind and helpful Information Officer of the Finnish Military Museum who should be able to supply you with a copy of Stig Roudasmaa's excellent book on Finnish helmets Teraskypara Suomen puolustusvoimissa [The steel helmet in the Finnish Defense Forces]. It is mostly in Finnish as you'd expect, but with a substantial English language section which Explains All. This is a superb little book, which should be in any helmet collector's reference library. Please remember to say that you are prepared to pay money for the book and postage! TIN LIDS - CANADIAN COMBAT HELMETS - http://www.servicepub.com/upclose.html Canadian helmets may at first seem a pretty small subject, and yes, this item by Canadian collector Roger V Lucy is a small book, just 48pp, even if it is A4 size. But there's a wealth of information in here. On almost every page I found something I hadn't previously known or even imagined. It's well-written, deeply researched, and packed with knowledge. Highly recommended for all helmet enthusiasts as it has good information on many aspects of general 20th century helmet history. (New news (22nd July 2007), good and bad. The bad is that this book is presently out of print. But try ABE anyway. The good news is that Roger Lucy is working on a 3rd edition, due out, well, Real Soon Now.) COLLECTOR'S GUIDE TO SWISS MILITARY HELMETS - email me Jean-Paul Soulier's book on Swiss Helmets is still available, in the revised 1999 edition. But it is hard to get. I do not know of any website or dealer that handles it. I got mine from M. Soulier direct. I understand that he is reluctant to have his email or street address published, so if anyone wants to make contact with him with a view to buying the book, they should email me in the first instance. A COLLECTOR'S GUIDE TO SCANDINAVIAN MILITARY HELMETS - Volume 1, DENMARK AND NORWAY - Currently - January 2008uly - available from Stefan's website! Highly recommended. And what happened to Volume 2, Sweden and Finland then, eh? Mr Anders Skotte?) HELMY WOJSKA POLSKIEGO
- JACEK HIJAK - ------------- now for those who read this far, some interesting pages about helmets http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/it/2003/1/2003_1_34.shtml http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1984/5/1984_5_86.shtml http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Helmets http://www.hardscrabblefarm.com/ww2/dating_m1.htm http://www.uncp.edu/news/2006/michael_spivey.htm http://www.worldwar1.com/dbc/helmet17.htm |