Original Japanese WWII Type 90 Army Relic Helmet with Intact Star - No Liner or Chinstrap - Tetsubo

Original Item: Only One Available. This is a nice example of the classic Japanese Type 90 Tetsubo (鉄帽 - "steel cap") army helmet shell, also colloquially called the tetsukabuto ( 鉄 冑 "steel helmet") by Japanese troops.

Features include:
- Original metal star applied to front.
- Original paint with very heavy wear and oxidation, showing the "blue" manganese steel underneath the helmet. The liner fittings have heavy oxidation as well.
- Kanji character 大 for Large is stamped into the rear metal rim.

A nice shell example without the liner or chinstrap, good for a representative piece. These helmets are continuing to become harder and harder to find on the market. This example is worthy of any WWII collection.

The Japanese Type 90 Helmet
The Imperial Japanese Army was the official ground based armed force of Imperial Japan from 1871 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of War, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor of Japan as supreme commander of the army and the navy. Later an Inspectorate General of Military (Army) Aviation, became the third agency with oversight over the army.

During wartime or national emergencies, the nominal command functions of the emperor would be centralized in an Imperial General Headquarters (IGHQ), an ad-hoc body consisting of the chief and vice chief of the Army General Staff, the minister of war, the chief and vice chief of the Naval General Staff, the inspector general of military aviation, and the inspector general of military training.

The Japanese Tetsubo, also colloquially called the tetsukabuto ("steel helmet") by troops, was a mainstay of the Imperial Japanese Army from its creation in 1932. Its construction from inferior chrome-molybdenum steel limited its ability to protect the wearer from gunfire or shrapnel.