My favorite TV show when I was a kid was COMBAT !! with Vic Morrow. Played army every day. LOVED that show. From that I had a love of the German helmet and purchased my first helmet. A M40 single decal repainted with a brush. Rode hard in the war and it shows it. I still have it.

As time went on including my pay check I started collecting in earnest. Helmet collecting is a mine field. With the amount of fakes on the market, if you don't know what you are looking at you WILL get screwed. Ended up a moderator on a collecting board. Learned tons. So much to know, decals, paint etc. Top shelf helmets aren't owned. They are on loan. They move on to another collector.
I was fortunate enough to have these two helmets for a time. M40 SS and a M42 SS. One went to Europe and the other to the east coast.

So, my first helmet cost me $400. To understand the mine field out there, I sold the two SS helmets for $15,000.
So how much is this one worth? Found in a barn in Germany. M42 SS snow camo. Liner was gone but no shell damage. I still have it.

It's a fake.