DougB exposes "Champagne Rune" SS Decal Fraud and Adds a Coffin Nail to XRFacts

Forgive me if this has been discussed or asked and answered...but is there a possibility some of these "champagne rune" helmets are indeed real, and are simply "gold toned" decals, like some Heer decals get gold toned in a smoking environment over a long period, then mistaken for KM lids?
 
The issue can be confusing and it appears that unethical behavior thrives among confusion.

The Champagne Runes were all painted on postwar using templates and are often found where they have no business being, the result of forgers with a poor understanding of decal-to-shell relationships.

Original period applied decals, on the other hand, do often exhibit a lacquer toning or yellowing with age. This has been seen with decals of the armed service branches:

Heer (often confused with KM-Navy)
Luft (confused with gold "generals" decals - non existent)
Police: (confused with gold "water-police" - non existent)
SS (confused with "Champagne-SS" decals - non existent)

Although Pocher-SS has reportedly been reproduced with templates postwar, the "champagne -SS" appears to have been a direct attempt to copy an age toned ET-SS decal.
 
hkp C-SS

http://www.german-helmets.com/SS Helmets-M1942-photos.htm

The helmet shown below represents one of the rare M1942 pattern single decal combat helmets manufactured with the "hkp" (SE) maker stamp designating that it was produced in the helmet factory in Lauter, Germany. This helmet bears the proper "textbook" second pattern runic shield produced specifically for this factory and only found on helmets by this maker. The decal is often referred to by collectors as a "mock ET pattern" decal. This helmet is in un-issued condition and originated in the state of Michigan, USA.


These things are all over the place and have (and are currently) fooled (fooling) many over the years. This one came out of Michigan. Interesting.

The word "mock" used in the description of C-SS is appropriate.
 

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Shampain ruin lids still presented as real

I find it interesting that there are still helmet sites which has not removed the Shampain Ruin helmets from their online presentation yet. Ken B has still two Shampain Ruin helmets presented in his online collection gallery: http://germanwarhelmet.com/gallery/

One would think that an update was in order, but hey maybe Doug only routed out the "fake" Shampain Ruins...??!!

I am utterly disappointed how quickly the whole scandal cooled of and went away. Probably these will circulate again in some years time as "contoversial NS style SS helmets"....

As long as the major Guru on SS helmets still claim them to be original (or at least 8 or 10...) there will be no clear condemnation on these things. Since major players on forums also protects him and creates a smoke screen there is "reasonable doubt" to avoid a concensus on these garbage helmets. it opens up for rejection of claims for refunds on lifetime guarantees on originality COA's (surprise, surprise...), and green collectors will still be fooled by them.

It is a disgrace and major fraud, plain and simple.
 
Peiper said:
It is a disgrace and major fraud, plain and simple.
Click to expand...

My opinions: It's the final shameful episode in a branch of the hobby which is officially now completely and irreversibly tainted by fraud, greed and dishonesty. Almost as bad as the underlying airbrushed humpery is the interference being run to protect the most significant, long lasting fraud I've seen in 30 years of collecting. How shameful.
 
At least I have the feeling the bottom has reached and they can't sink any lower or can they?
 
There is no bottom with fraud vermin.

They can start making more of them?
The books can be altered to claim that runes were spray painted on?
New COA's can be issued for turd helmets?
The same fraud helmets can be sold publicly for even more money?
 
The mafia term for it is "one hand washes the other." Except the mafia wasn't cheesy like the "SS lid mafia." What has happened is nothing short of criminal fraud on a significant, long term basis involving large amounts of money. If there was a criminal investigation my bet is that the culprits would be identified. I believe the painter would be identified.
 
There will probably be no investigation beyond what individuals will do. Remember that the collection of TR items is looked on with some degree of suspicion by those outside the hobby. Further, my experience through the years is that a significant number of collectors are a little "off" or have an unrealistic view of the TR era. The average non-collector will have little or no sympathy for a person who has been defrauded by these dealers and "advanced collectors". The view of most would likely be that they got what they deserved.

Cheers,
Mike
 
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Rev.Mike said:
There will probably be no investigation beyond what individuals will do. Remember that the collection of TR items is looked on with some degree of suspicion by those outside the hobby. Further, my experience through the years is that a significant number of collectors are a little "off" or have an unrealistic view of the TR era. The average non-collector will have little or no sympathy for a person who has been defrauded by these dealers and "advanced collectors". The view of most would likely be that they got what they deserved.

Cheers,
Mike
Click to expand...

I promise that if the right person got ripped off, it could be a serious problems fur der SS trinket lid paintinfraudster. There could be interest at the prosecutorial level in going after SS collecting humpers for the very reasons that some would think there would be no interest. In short, this is criminal conduct on a significant scale. It's bizarre to watch the WAF apologists, some of whom are lawyers or claim to be lawyers, prattling on about how there is no real recourse other than to grovel to the dealer for a refund. So far, I know of only one dealer who has made it right with a helmet swap. There are some peddling shampain run airbrush humpers even now. :facepalm:
 
Agreed. The swamp could be drained IF people tried. Had I been taken like one of those people, there would be no end to my efforts at building a public bonfire. Civil courts, criminal courts, whatever jurisdiction they are lurking it. Name everyone, depose everyone, screw it.

But no, they want to play make believe and own their fake helmets and listen to their gods. Whatever. My sympathy faded a while ago.
 
Buddabing, right there with you on legal action and the public bonfire. My opinions: that (dead)end of the hobby is now officially just one big ridiculous huckster prank searching for new "collectors" with more money than sense. We know this because most of the ss lid forum bigwigs who jabber the mostest and the loudest on the forums spend more time and effort running interference and advocating for doing nothing, move along, nothing more to see, than actually trying to ID the perps and wipe the turd stains off each other and their hobby. If you're enough of an idiot, or waftarded enough, to blindly accept such forum buffoonery and hide the pickle then you deserve a shampain rune.
 
Hambone & Nirvana, I must say I agree with you. I'm still waiting for a collector with cojones to stand up and send these crooks to a perp walk. Since collectors purport to admire soldiers, it is astonishing that there seems to be a real lack of resolve and courage.
 
IMHO, the failure to rectify by those who paid top dollar for what was advertised and in most cases authenticated by a COA, is asinine.

These purchases are no different than any other business transaction (with higher dollars involved), and when you enter a business transaction and the product or service is not what was advertised, you seek to rectify the situation.

That many of these purchasers have personal relationships and/or friendships with those that are involved should not have any bearing - this is not personal, it's business.

In the real world and business, you sometimes have to correct things and it could involve up to and include litigation. Why this is failing to occur is beyond me.

Would they feel funny walking by certain persons at SOS next year and that is precluding action?

The people that should feel funny at SOS are those who participated and perpetuated this debacle......
 
Seriously, what do you guys think would happen here if it was discovered that over the last 30 years "single rune" rifles were all humped fantasies created by some rifle humper, "authenticated", peddled and trafficked by dealers and hobby bigwigs for big money? Look what has happened to people caught peddling ONE humper.
 
Have being following this on numerous forums none of this surprises me I bought countless SS fakes 1975 t0 79 from made up helmet covers, caps from shelter quarters to helmets belt buckles, made up ss tunics from heer ones parts SS daggers on and on I was suckered on it as a 27 year old new collector back in those days with little reference internet or research to catch these crooks or expose them which is going on today and here big bucks in this ss stuff haven't touched it for over 36 years for this very reason good thread. timothy
 
40 years ago........



My famous champagne SS helmet

I vaguely recall picking up this ckl 64 M-42 some 40 years ago from a kid who said he found it in his grandmother's garage.Names/ranks of GIs are lightly inscribed on the liner.KH says it's a good one.So,there you have it.
Steve



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04-18-2016, 06:08 PM
#2
avenger avenger is offline


If that is a champagne decal, I hate to say these have just recently been demonstrated to be fakes by DougB. They are a convincingly performed spray paint application based on his information, not a decal in those tested. Sorry. They've fooled a lot of people over the years.

Others will probably be able to tell you more about the evidence, and some still believe there were original champagne decals. For me they're controversial enough to avoid, and personally I find Doug's information convincing. Kelly Hicks may still advocate for them, but everyone also makes mistakes with whatever information is available to them at the time. But, as far as I am aware of, only Doug has destroyed a champagne decal in order to test what it is made of. In his findings, the decal came off in a paint powder instead of chips when scraped. A tape test did not result in pulling the decal off as is often the case with real decals (please do not go and try either of those right now in a panic if you feel compelled to "just see" as it would pain me to hear you damaged a mislabeled good decal by mistake). Under magnification, faint black over spray of the paint on the runes and edging can be seen.

I'm far from an expert on these, and more of an observer. So, if you want to learn more about Doug's findings so you can make your own asessment, I recommend you join up over at German Helmet Walhalla forum, and look over this post:

http://www.ghw2.com/topic/49701-mythbusting-the-champagne-decal

There have also been some discussion on these here, which you can find via a search. I expect the controversy will go on among gentlemen whom I hold in high esteem, but for my two cents it's difficult to ignore Doug's evidence.

http://www.warrelics.eu/forum/ss-helmet-forum/my-famous-champagne-ss-helmet-635868/
Click to expand...

Thread has pics of this helmet.......
 
No interest on these fakes

It is interesting to see that there is almost no discussions on Shampain Ruins no more. This one is clearly one of these fakes. I find it peculiar that this is one of the "originals" Hicks claims is real. It is so obvious to identify the nature of this fake insignia based on DougB's analysis on the Shampain ruins. It also has schiefer grau paint, indicating late ckl production in the no decal era.

Is the overall forum activity somewhat slower on german helmets? Seems to be lower threads and activity compared to earlier years.
 
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DougB is back!

DougB has returned to the forums after a long spell of abscense. He also have dislosed more information about the Shampain Ruins in this GHW2 thread:

http://www.ghw2.com/topic/51256-m40-ss-sd-helmet/#entry618313

He states that all Shampain Ruins were painted by 1 guy in Michigan, and that all these helmets were supplied to him for this purpose. I have asked him if he can disclose more, but we might soon have a clear consensus on these fakes which will quench all efforts to obscure the facts or claims that some of these are "real".:thumbsup:
 
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