How do I buy a French helmet?

I usually keep my collection centered on American and British items. But, recently I have been branching out broadening my horizons and began purchasing a few French items now I want a helmet to help add to my French display. I was tempted to buy one at a show over the weekend for 175 dollars and a friend advised me at the time don't do it because it could be a fake. Well, I trust the advise and passed it up until I learn more about it. So, my question is what do I need to look for in buying one and what should I expect to spend? Thanks

 

condition! certainly, liner original, not a 50s rework! the rarer m26 are the one's to go for, here's some for sale on ebay, and the $250 offer one is a nice helmet, but is more expensive too eric. ray.. french helmet, WW I 1914-18, WW II 1939-45. Great deals on eBay!
I'm sure skipper will give you good advice on this too eric, ray..

 

also this thread to look thro should help eric.. http://www.ww2f.com/militaria/29830-...-adrian-2.html

 

Here is 1 pre-ww2 french helmet:

French Military Helmets - International Military Antiques

 

Never pay more than 80 euros for a WWI one (with inside) or 50 euros for a WWII (with inside). This goes for infantery ones with insignia included. Some insignias are very rare and explain why such and such helmet will be sold for 200-300 euros. If there is no inside I usually pay between 10-30 euros for them (with chin strap still included). Last Saturday I left a batch of three rusted helmets , a canteen and two bottles for 40 euros. because I thought it was too expensive , you'd probably dream for such prices, but that's what we pay for them a flea markets.

 

Maybe its an idea to look for some eurpean second hand goodies sites and avoid ebay Cav .
I can give you a few sites by PM to look on ,its all private people offerings from houseclearances etc. Most will propably ship by mail to US but I guess it takes a while for the helmet to get to the US ..
There's so many of these helmets still around and they dont seem to be too popular with collectors here too .. I agree with the prices Skip mentions , for forty to fifty euro's you must be able to score a real nice complete helmet ..

 

let's see, you could probably find one for about 60 euros + 40 euros shipping to the states, in other words a nice one at home for a 100 euro budget. I even have a couple of spare ones if you want to make a swap

 

I offer my sincere appreciation to all the advice and help. Skipper thanks for the tip and the offer of a swap. Heinrich directed me to a website and I had already purchased a helmet that night. Ray, as always thanks. When it arrives I will post it. Cheers to all of you gents.

 

Watch it, soon you'll be hooked and will want to check whether it's an M-15, M-26 , M-31 or the rare experimental M-23 one... Then you 'll start wanting the different insignias , then you'll want the WWI insignias on WWII helmets, later the diffrerent types of cammo, the local makings or even the diffrent counties which adopted it . When you are that far you'l lbe a real Adrian collector.
Did you know for instance it was briefly adopted by the Irish?

Adrian helmet - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Thanks Skip now I feel like I need WW1 insignias. It never starts off as something simple for me I have been looking at trench coats and ammo pouches because I think the helmet would look good on a mannequin with the rifle. I also bought a display stand for the extra soon to be helmets. This morning I have been searching the web to buy another French helmet and found one for 45 euro. The seller is a bit expensive on shipping but I could'nt resist. I think I will stay away from the M-23 helmet and let you big time collectors get those. But, I have never been to so many places on the web looking at helmets many times having to deal with a language barrier. I learned German years ago in school so it is nice to put it to use again. But have mostly been working with the google translator.

 

My M-23 helmet was found in a barn and given to me a couple of months ago. They are quite rare but not impossible to find because most people won't bother having a close look and won't make the difference between models. 45 euros is a good price for a M-31 or M-26 model. Let us see it when you have it.