Help Identifying My Late Father's Diving Helmet – Real or Replica?

[Popeye98]

Hi everyone,

I recently inherited this old diving helmet from my late father, and I have no idea whether it’s authentic or a replica. My father wasn't a diver, all I know about this helmet is that he bought it 20-25 years ago at an antiques show, I don't know at what price. It looks quite old, but I don’t know much about these helmets. There are some markings on it, and it seems to be made of copper and brass, it's really heavy.

I’d really appreciate any insights from experts or collectors. Any help identifying the manufacturer, time period, or value would mean a lot. Thanks in advance !

 

[Celt]

Hi everyone,

I recently inherited this old diving helmet from my late father, and I have no idea whether it’s authentic or a replica. My father wasn't a diver, all I know about this helmet is that he bought it 20-25 years ago at an antiques show, I don't know at what price. It looks quite old, but I don’t know much about these helmets. There are some markings on it, and it seems to be made of copper and brass, it's really heavy.

I’d really appreciate any insights from experts or collectors. Any help identifying the manufacturer, time period, or value would mean a lot. Thanks in advance !View attachment 881723View attachment 881724View attachment 881725View attachment 881726View attachment 881727

If you can make it, you can fake it. Is there any original tinning left, did someone clean all the tinning off to shine it, check the serial numbers, quite a few helmets came out of India and they were very good fakes. Used helmets will always have a few dings in the top. Is the soldering clean, check it against a genuine helmet.

 

[NothingClever]

The manufacturer plate makes it seem authentic but it doesn’t look like the diameter of the neck of the helmet is large enough for a real person. My gut feel (NO expertise) is that it’s a replica.

 

[Endler's]

Look if the plumbing (pipes) go through helmet & that there are vents inside helmet.

Fakes are usually smooth inside, with no holes where tubes come through.

Don explains...

 

[Celt]

The Mumbai copy,s of the Siebe Gorman 12 bolt helmets that came to the market in the early 2000 were near perfect and fooled a lot of people.