Original German WWII Early Heer Army Soldier Plated Metal Bust Wearing Sanitized Transitional M16 Helmet

Original Item: Only One Available. This is a lovely early German WWII hollow metal bust of a Heer Army soldier wearing an early war "Transitional" pattern M16 Stahlhelm helmet. During the build up to WWII, the first helmets that the Wehrmacht were armed with were re-fitted WWI helmets, which have the distinctive long vent hole lugs for attachment of a "stirnpanzer" armored shield. Due to how recognizable these were, sculptures and other art featuring German helmets often still retained them well into the WWII period.

This bust looks to be made from nickel plated hollow cast alloy of some sort, and was made from at least two different pieces, as we can see a joint between the head and the uniform portion, and there may be other joints that we cannot see. The bust measures about 8 1/2" tall, and is 6 1/4" across the shoulders, so it is a substantial piece. It does show a good amount of wear to the plating from cleaning, and the Heer Army decal on the left side has had the swas (hook cross) ground away post war to "sanitize" it. There is deformation to the bottom, which was probably originally a rectangle, and there is a small chunk torn away from the front bottom. This may originally have been mounted in some type of base.

A very interesting piece from WWII Germany, ready to research and display!