I had a good question from a customer about the design of this 3RD Division patch, which was clearly done by someone who thought the design was just a series of stripes, not a specific arrangement of stripes, and the fact that one of the battle honors was mis-spelled.
                As collectors we like everything to fit into a very neat and tidy package, but it just doesn't always happen that way. Most of these trophy or diary helmets were painted between 1919 and 1925. The average Doughboy did not always have great art skills, so frequently another Doughboy would be tasked with painting when overseas, as a favor or maybe for a pack of cigarettes. When home, another family member or friend could be tasked in the same way. Miss-spellings are not uncommon because of literacy levels and if painted by someone who was not the Doughboy himself there can be other errors, including wrong design or patch color combinations. Look at the above design. Would you have the ability to execute something like that with a paintbrush?

                The current iteration of this helmet shows that a loose or crooked rim was not going to give a good look so it was removed, before painting. The helmet was then set up as a wall trophy or a lamp shade, the later which I believe was its last use. It then was shellacked which was common in the day. If someone went to all this trouble they sure would not mess up the 3RD Division patch and a simple spelling, would they?. Doughboys also did this kind of things with German helmets and some French helmets. They frequently use colors never seen on these helmets. Some of these helmets get passed off as original German camos. These trophy helmets were painted to commemorate service and were hung on the wall or a lamp significantly more often then they were worn.
                All this being said. There is no substitute for handling an object, looking at the paint under magnification, learning what paint does as it ages, looking for micro scratches with high powered magnification and learning the difference between manufactured wear and REAL wear. Also when viewing photos, know that they may not accurately reflect the actual color and they may seem brighter or darker than actual, because of use of various tones of artificial light. I hope this was helpful to some people. If so let me know and I may do some addition "posts".