Serbian Adrian Helmet

[willysmb42]

Hi All,

I am interested in opinions on this topic.

I bought a Adrian Helmet at a local car boot sale last year and when I get home and do some homework on it it seems to be quite rare. It has a Serbian badge on the front which was banned after the revolution and replaced with the Yugoslavian badge which looks very similar but has a different badge on the shield. Paint colour all looks original and the clasp on the badge looks like it has never been undone. The size seems quite small and would not fit my average size head even without a liner.

My Questions are;

Should I get a new replacement liner and chinstrap for it?

Should I buy an old helmet a similar size and use that liner or is that considered a deception ?

Will fitting a liner or chinstrap damage what I have? I have never seen or fitted one before.

Who makes replacement liners for Adrian helmets ?

Any thoughts ?

Roger

Profile

Badge clasp

Inside

[Andrew Upton]

Will fitting a liner or chinstrap damage what I have? I have never seen or fitted one before.

Who makes replacement liners for Adrian helmets ?

Any thoughts ?

Here's one supplier of reproduction liners for the Adrian style helmets I would always recommend:

http://www.pflco.com/belgian.htm

However, the answer to the first part of your question I quoted is: quite possibly yes.

To fit the liner to this style of helmet, you basically have to bend back the four lots of double-prongs inside the helmet until they point towards the centre of the helmet. These then pass through holes in the helmet liner band, and are then folded flat again, securing the liner in place. An easy task when the metal is new, but when the metal is now 95 years or so old and set in place you risk breaking them off each time you attempt to bend them again. A risky business when restoring a bog standard French Adrian, but not one I would personally want to risk on a rare example which externally at least appears to be in excellent shape and displays very nicely as-is.

On a side note, interesting to see that the liner prongs were clearly folded after the helmet had been repainted khaki from blue, and you can see the "shadow" of the prongs in the blue marks which they had covered, which was then revealed when they were folded.

[auchonvillerssomme]

You need to be very careful, there are some very dodgy helmets coming out of the Czech Republic at the moment, seems that they have helmets all of the same colour and wear with every badge available.

[willysmb42]

Here's one supplier of reproduction liners for the Adrian style helmets I would always recommend:

http://www.pflco.com/belgian.htm

However, the answer to the first part of your question I quoted is: quite possibly yes.

To fit the liner to this style of helmet, you basically have to bend back the four lots of double-prongs inside the helmet until they point towards the centre of the helmet. These then pass through holes in the helmet liner band, and are then folded flat again, securing the liner in place. An easy task when the metal is new, but when the metal is now 95 years or so old and set in place you risk breaking them off each time you attempt to bend them again. A risky business when restoring a bog standard French Adrian, but not one I would personally want to risk on a rare example which externally at least appears to be in excellent shape and displays very nicely as-is.

On a side note, interesting to see that the liner prongs were clearly folded after the helmet had been repainted khaki from blue, and you can see the "shadow" of the prongs in the blue marks which they had covered, which was then revealed when they were folded.

Thanks very much for the reply, that sounds like good advice to me.

[willysmb42]

You need to be very careful, there are some very dodgy helmets coming out of the Czech Republic at the moment, seems that they have helmets all of the same colour and wear with every badge available.

This helmet came from a toy dealer who I had dealt with before and is very honest. He had been asked by a widow to look at some toys to buy and while he was there he was offered a helmet collection as she didnt know what to do with them. He got the whole collection. I bought several other helmets at the same time ww1 Brodie (http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=174089&st=0&p=1692029&fromsearch=1entry1692029 ) and ww2 wardens helmet and another Adrian Helmet more of ww2 design. I had already missed out on a couple of others including German 1st and 2nd world war.

I only paid £10 for it so I wasnt being ripped off.

I am currently not looking to sell it and, to me, it does some 100 % original, but is their a trusted member of the helmet community or an expert somewhere that verifies such things ?

[trenchtrotter]

For £10 you wont go wrong. Why fit a replacement liner....adds no value. Do you wish to wear it? If not again why tamper? IMHO leave it as it is.

From the photos it looks ok but as mentioed there are some big fakes on the market re the scarcer badged Adrians.

I am not sure when the Serbs used blue as opposed to khaki paint, will check my reference books.

Regards

TT

[willysmb42]

Can I just confirm that I can see no blue on the helmet and that the colour under the prongs is the original slightly rusty metal just to save any confusion. Inside the helmet is a mustardy yellow but the outside looks more khaki but i cant be sure what colour it started off as. It does not look to have been overpainted.

Roger

[wainfleet]

I can understand the temptation to return something to a complete state, but my choice would be to leave this helmet as is. I can just about see the case for adding an original liner in the unlikely event you could find one and fit it without doing any damage, but even that's a bit borderline, and to put a repro liner in an original helmet, which looks quite nice as it is, would transform a historical artefact into a messed-with hybrid. Not at all a good idea IMO.

[willysmb42]

Thanks very much for all your replies.

I think I will leave it in its un-touched state.

Roger