Original Item: Only One Available. The M33 Helmet (Elmetto Mod. 33 in Italian) is a steel combat helmet designed in the 1930s in Italy, and was the standard combat helmet of the Regio Esercito up to World War II, and of the Esercito Italiano well into the Cold War. Designed by Nicola Leszl for the Mussolini Government, these have become extremely hard to find on the collectors market today, especially WWII examples that have not been refurbished.

As these were still in production well after the war, it should be noted that after the war, design changes were made that make it possible to identify an example made in WWII or prior. The characteristics only found on these earlier helmets are:

- Gray - Green Paint (Post War are OD Green)
- Metal Grommets around Liner Drawstring with Z-stitch in rear
- Tan Leather liner with Orange felt padding (post war has yellow leather and felt)
- Leather Grey-Green chin strap (post war was canvas)
- Liner Chinstrap Mounting Ring is Rectangular (post war was trapezoidal)
- Small vent holes with flattened tops

This example is in very good condition, and we believe that it is entirely WWII Issue. It has a liner that definitely looks WWII, but it does not have the grommets and Z-stitch it should at the rear. However it has the correct tan leather and orange felt, so we believe this to be a variant. All of the other characteristics are a match for WWII.

The liner and chin strap are in good condition, though they do show wear from age and use. The leather of the liner shows only light wear, and is fully intact. It is stamped 60 on the right side, indicating the size of the helmet in cm. There do not appear to be any other markings on the liner or chin strap.

The shell is really in choice condition, with most of the paint intact, however it has definitely been repainted at some point. However this looks to be a wartime repaint, as the colors are almost the same. There are not any major dents that we can see. The rear of the helmet near the edge is stamped with production code P99, which we have unfortunately not been able to identify.

The front of the helmet has very nice black eagle stenciled on front, with white crossed flags under a crown added. We are not sure which unit this refers to, but it definitely is original to the helmet. It possibly could be some type of signals designation.

A very nice example of the Italian M33 helmet from WWII, ready to display!