Original Item: One-of-a-kind. This is a fantastic genuine Great War 30th Division “Old Hickory” hand painted camouflage M1917 Doughboy helmet with a fantastic vertical painted 30th Division insignia to the front. The helmet features original period colored panel camouflage paint in various shades of green, brown, red, blue and tan.

The shell is maker-marked with a stamping on the underside of the rim that reads ZC 56. The solid rivets and heat lot number indicate that this helmet shell was produced in the United States.

The front of the helmet bears an original painted division marking, featuring the O.H. XXX logo, for "Old Hickory", the nickname of the 30th Division, signified by the Roman Numeral XXX (30). Very rare to see is that the insignia is painted vertically, the correct way it was meant to be painted. The majority of WWI examples are painted/stitched horizontally, making this a rare instance. The logo is in great shape, with the original texture still visible, with a great patina. 

The paint is very nice and vibrant, with great color retention, and a nice patina of age. It was applied over the original textured camouflage paint, and much of the original texture is still easily seen. There is some paint chipping along the rim edges, as expected of a helmet that went through war over 100 years ago, but it still presents very nicely! The liner and chinstrap are now absent, though a small bit of the lower chinstrap assembly is still in place with the crown rivet.

A great 30th Division camouflage-painted helmet, one of the most sought-after divisions of the AEF. The 30th Division was made up of national guardsmen from North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee. The division, along with the 27th Division, was assigned to the U.S. II Corps but did not serve with the main American Expeditionary Force (AEF) and was instead attached to the Second Army of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), trading American equipment for British equipment.

The major operations the 30th Division took part in were the Ypres-Lys, and the Somme offensive, in which it was one of the two American divisions assigned to the Fourth British Army that broke the Hindenburg Line on September 29, 1918. The Thirtieth Division broke through on its entire front, taking Bellicourt and part of Nauroy by noon of the 29th. The Australian 5th Division, coming up at this time, continued the attack with elements of the 30th division. The division had, in three months, from July until October 1918, sustained 1,237 officers and men killed in action (KIA), with a further 7,178 wounded in action (WIA) or missing in action (MIA).

The combination of the U.S.-made M1917 shell, ZC 56 marking, vivid multicolor camouflage, vertical O.H. XXX insignia, surviving original textured surface, and direct association with the 30th “Old Hickory” Division makes this a particularly desirable WWI helmet. The missing liner and chinstrap are important condition factors, but the exceptional painted exterior remains the defining feature of the piece.