AUTHENTIC Mark V " MORSE " US NAVY, Year 1944 Diving Helmet
Item History & Price
AUTHENTIC Genuine Mark V "MORSE" US NAVY, Year 1944 Diving Helmet.
This helmet has been verified by both MORSE and DESCO as 100% Authentic, INCLUDING the earlier oval brass ID Tag and WWII dates.
Here, this very same helmet is listed in 2005 AND TALKS ABOUT ID TAGS! (at bottom, helmet 5752).Here is the pertinent quote:"The oval shaped brass name plate has serial number 801 and 3-10-44 stamped on. Contrary to some belief Morse used three different shaped tags during the war ...years made out of both lead and brass. They were the rectangular tag made in both metals and the oval shaped made in brass. The chest plate weighs 24.5 pounds, the helmet 32 pounds, for a total of 56.5 pounds."Source: landandseacollection dot com forward slash id86 dot html
With the oval brass tag, it is very rare and HIGHLY collectable!
Authentic Morse Mark V Diving Helmets with verified provenance traced to the US Navy - and in actual use during WWII - RARELY are for sale. You can't even find one in eBay's completed listings. This is the real McCoy!
Manufactured by Morse Company on 3-10-1944, No 801. The helmet has engravings on the brails of the words "front" and "back" as well as "Morse- Boston" and the Serial number 5752 on breastplate, helmet and brailes - ALL MATCHING!! See photos. Morse service receipt uploaded as well.
Provenance:
1. I was told by Morse that they had sold it to the US Navy and delivered to the US Navy Yard, New York, in 1944.2. It was serviced by DESCO in 2005 (as told to me by Christian at DESCO).3. The helmet was purchased from Ken and Donna Downey from the Morse company by well known Israeli collector Alexi Lipszyc for his collection.4. I purchased it from him in 2011, for my personal collection.5. I confirmed provenance with Morse and had the helmet serviced by Morse in 2011, polished, cleaned up solder, repaired faceplate locking device, repaired five (5) broken screws and re-tapped. (Receipt in photos.)6. Reconfirmed provenance with DESCO last week!
eBay limits me to twelve (12) photos. Interior shots with comm can be seen here: imagixx dot net forward slash reference
This is the most collectable, sought after, quintessential Diving Helmet and is known the world over -- the very embodiment of the term "Deep Sea Diver." This is the U.S. Navy MK-V diving helmet, and its reputation has been well earned over 70 years of military and continued use in civilian diving today. Since this has a rare oval brass ID tag for its date, it is HIGHLY collectable.
This helmet will make a spectacular impression in your home or office.
Good luck bidding.
Capt. Martin Bayerle
On Jun-14-21 at 11:19:32 PDT, seller added the following information:Here is a post today on Facebook's Dive Helmet Trader group, from DESCO, on this specific helmet:
Lake Michigan Classic Diving OrganizationThis helmet looked familiar so we went back into the DESCO records and discovered we had done some work on 5752 in 2005. The helmet was sent to us for repairs by one of the well-known and reputable antique dealers of the time. He had bought and sold many dive helmets in his day and we had no reason to doubt the authenticity of this helmet. That opinion is based on his reputation and experience, and our first hand evaluation.5752 had been modified at some time. There was an extension put on the exhaust valve stem. At the time we puzzled over the reason for this change until it dawned that now the exhaust valve would behave like a drysuit dump valve. The tradeoff being the loss of the secondary spring and cracking pressure adjustment. A cover was placed over the exhaust valve outlet. We believe it was to function like the old vertical tube Morse exhaust valves that trap leak back to keep it from dripping down the diver’s neck.The spitcock had been removed and the hole was patched.The repair work order had DESCO install one of our spitcock valves. We replaced a missing faceplate guard, and did some basic repairs. The unique exhaust mod was left intact.There are accusations that the helmet is a deliberate fake made by Ken Downey and palmed off as a 1944 helmet. This is mostly based on the cast Brass nametag. The Morse log books do not support this assertion.The quality of the helmet is superior to any helmet produced by Morse Diving in the last 40 years. We have seen in person, multiple examples of Farrell and Downey Morse helmets.The Ebay auction gave a detailed provenance for this helmet which the Morse record does not agree with. On page 41 of Morse log book #7 it states: “5752 Navy Helmet Comm Order 3/10/44”. This entry tells us 5752 is a US Navy Mark V model helmet. “Comm Order” tells us it was sold commercially, not to the government. Some may question the log book stating this helmet was sold commercial so let’s look further down the page. 5753, 54, and 55 were also listed as “Navy Helmet Comm Order” along with 5752. The next helmets, 5756 to 5760 were all commercial model helmets (one, three, and four light). Helmet 5761& 5762 were Mk V helmets but no customer listed. 5763 was a commercial breastplate feed.5764 to 5775 were Mark V helmets sold to the US Army. The next six helmets were commercial model helmets. 5776 to 5792 were all commercial model helmets. 5793 to 5799 were Mk v helmets again sold to the US Army. Out of 48 helmets only 25 were Mark V helmets and 19 of those were sold to the US government. Why is this important?We believe the reason this helmet has a cast Brass tag lies with who the customer was. A commercial diving contractor would not care what the tag was made of. When Morse Diving was bought by William Ferrell in 1939 they changed the Mark V nametag to the new company name, and cast them in Brass just as the Morse family had done. In the 1942 re-release of the US Navy Bureau of Ships Mark V drawings a Lead Alloy nametag was specified for US Gov’t helmets. DESCO never used a cast Mk V tag, be it Brass or Lead. We were allowed to use our sheet Brass tag throughout our Mark V production run right up to 1984. Sheet Brass is an alloy of Copper and Zinc. Lead was a critical war material and by allowing DESCO a variance it saved some of this important metal for other uses. Morse, Schrader, and Miller Dunn all used Lead. It is logical to assume there was an inventory of the cast Brass tags around the Morse shop in 1944. Since the helmet in question wouldn’t need to get passed a government inspector there was no reason to automatically install a Lead nametag. The Lead tags were fragile, and were not very durable.Ken Downey has taken a beating from members of this group. In his defense he did produce helmets between years 2000 and 2011 with serial numbers starting at #2000 and ending at #2137. After the entry of 2137 there is this:“Note Because of Confusion of numbers from past new numbers start at”The next log entry is for Mark V serial number 6800. Our opinion is Ken never set out to defraud anyone in regards to the helmets produced in this period. He was issuing a new serial number set based on the change of Century and Millenia. As the saying goes, Easy is the descent into Hell. For it is paved with good intentions.If Ken had wanted to pass off new helmets as old Mk Vs he should have started his serial numbers after 2178, which is the helmet pictured in the 1916 US Navy Diving Manual. The shoddy workmanship and desperate business practices are separate issues, and have no bearing on this helmet or its lineage.DESCO’s considered opinion based on documentary evidence and first hand observation of this helmet is that MDE Mark V helmet 5752 is a 1944 Mark V sold commercially to a diving contractor. At some point in its life it received some creative modifications. They are not unusual by any measure as we have seen many examples of modified helmets over the years. In DESCO’s own company collection is DESCO Mark V 3038 10/5/45. It had been modified with a Morse Commercial faceplate and spring lock.The provenance given in the Ebay ad is not supported by any documentation in the Morse records. We do not possess any shipping data for Morse products during WWII. There is no way to determine where individual shipments, much less where an individual helmet went.On Jun-14-21 at 11:28:05 PDT, seller added the following information:The key takeaway: "The quality of the helmet is superior to any helmet produced by Morse Diving in the last 40 years."
This helmet has been verified by both MORSE and DESCO as 100% Authentic, INCLUDING the earlier oval brass ID Tag and WWII dates.
Here, this very same helmet is listed in 2005 AND TALKS ABOUT ID TAGS! (at bottom, helmet 5752).Here is the pertinent quote:"The oval shaped brass name plate has serial number 801 and 3-10-44 stamped on. Contrary to some belief Morse used three different shaped tags during the war ...years made out of both lead and brass. They were the rectangular tag made in both metals and the oval shaped made in brass. The chest plate weighs 24.5 pounds, the helmet 32 pounds, for a total of 56.5 pounds."Source: landandseacollection dot com forward slash id86 dot html
With the oval brass tag, it is very rare and HIGHLY collectable!
Authentic Morse Mark V Diving Helmets with verified provenance traced to the US Navy - and in actual use during WWII - RARELY are for sale. You can't even find one in eBay's completed listings. This is the real McCoy!
Manufactured by Morse Company on 3-10-1944, No 801. The helmet has engravings on the brails of the words "front" and "back" as well as "Morse- Boston" and the Serial number 5752 on breastplate, helmet and brailes - ALL MATCHING!! See photos. Morse service receipt uploaded as well.
Provenance:
1. I was told by Morse that they had sold it to the US Navy and delivered to the US Navy Yard, New York, in 1944.2. It was serviced by DESCO in 2005 (as told to me by Christian at DESCO).3. The helmet was purchased from Ken and Donna Downey from the Morse company by well known Israeli collector Alexi Lipszyc for his collection.4. I purchased it from him in 2011, for my personal collection.5. I confirmed provenance with Morse and had the helmet serviced by Morse in 2011, polished, cleaned up solder, repaired faceplate locking device, repaired five (5) broken screws and re-tapped. (Receipt in photos.)6. Reconfirmed provenance with DESCO last week!
eBay limits me to twelve (12) photos. Interior shots with comm can be seen here: imagixx dot net forward slash reference
This is the most collectable, sought after, quintessential Diving Helmet and is known the world over -- the very embodiment of the term "Deep Sea Diver." This is the U.S. Navy MK-V diving helmet, and its reputation has been well earned over 70 years of military and continued use in civilian diving today. Since this has a rare oval brass ID tag for its date, it is HIGHLY collectable.
This helmet will make a spectacular impression in your home or office.
Good luck bidding.
Capt. Martin Bayerle
On Jun-14-21 at 11:19:32 PDT, seller added the following information:Here is a post today on Facebook's Dive Helmet Trader group, from DESCO, on this specific helmet:
Lake Michigan Classic Diving OrganizationThis helmet looked familiar so we went back into the DESCO records and discovered we had done some work on 5752 in 2005. The helmet was sent to us for repairs by one of the well-known and reputable antique dealers of the time. He had bought and sold many dive helmets in his day and we had no reason to doubt the authenticity of this helmet. That opinion is based on his reputation and experience, and our first hand evaluation.5752 had been modified at some time. There was an extension put on the exhaust valve stem. At the time we puzzled over the reason for this change until it dawned that now the exhaust valve would behave like a drysuit dump valve. The tradeoff being the loss of the secondary spring and cracking pressure adjustment. A cover was placed over the exhaust valve outlet. We believe it was to function like the old vertical tube Morse exhaust valves that trap leak back to keep it from dripping down the diver’s neck.The spitcock had been removed and the hole was patched.The repair work order had DESCO install one of our spitcock valves. We replaced a missing faceplate guard, and did some basic repairs. The unique exhaust mod was left intact.There are accusations that the helmet is a deliberate fake made by Ken Downey and palmed off as a 1944 helmet. This is mostly based on the cast Brass nametag. The Morse log books do not support this assertion.The quality of the helmet is superior to any helmet produced by Morse Diving in the last 40 years. We have seen in person, multiple examples of Farrell and Downey Morse helmets.The Ebay auction gave a detailed provenance for this helmet which the Morse record does not agree with. On page 41 of Morse log book #7 it states: “5752 Navy Helmet Comm Order 3/10/44”. This entry tells us 5752 is a US Navy Mark V model helmet. “Comm Order” tells us it was sold commercially, not to the government. Some may question the log book stating this helmet was sold commercial so let’s look further down the page. 5753, 54, and 55 were also listed as “Navy Helmet Comm Order” along with 5752. The next helmets, 5756 to 5760 were all commercial model helmets (one, three, and four light). Helmet 5761& 5762 were Mk V helmets but no customer listed. 5763 was a commercial breastplate feed.5764 to 5775 were Mark V helmets sold to the US Army. The next six helmets were commercial model helmets. 5776 to 5792 were all commercial model helmets. 5793 to 5799 were Mk v helmets again sold to the US Army. Out of 48 helmets only 25 were Mark V helmets and 19 of those were sold to the US government. Why is this important?We believe the reason this helmet has a cast Brass tag lies with who the customer was. A commercial diving contractor would not care what the tag was made of. When Morse Diving was bought by William Ferrell in 1939 they changed the Mark V nametag to the new company name, and cast them in Brass just as the Morse family had done. In the 1942 re-release of the US Navy Bureau of Ships Mark V drawings a Lead Alloy nametag was specified for US Gov’t helmets. DESCO never used a cast Mk V tag, be it Brass or Lead. We were allowed to use our sheet Brass tag throughout our Mark V production run right up to 1984. Sheet Brass is an alloy of Copper and Zinc. Lead was a critical war material and by allowing DESCO a variance it saved some of this important metal for other uses. Morse, Schrader, and Miller Dunn all used Lead. It is logical to assume there was an inventory of the cast Brass tags around the Morse shop in 1944. Since the helmet in question wouldn’t need to get passed a government inspector there was no reason to automatically install a Lead nametag. The Lead tags were fragile, and were not very durable.Ken Downey has taken a beating from members of this group. In his defense he did produce helmets between years 2000 and 2011 with serial numbers starting at #2000 and ending at #2137. After the entry of 2137 there is this:“Note Because of Confusion of numbers from past new numbers start at”The next log entry is for Mark V serial number 6800. Our opinion is Ken never set out to defraud anyone in regards to the helmets produced in this period. He was issuing a new serial number set based on the change of Century and Millenia. As the saying goes, Easy is the descent into Hell. For it is paved with good intentions.If Ken had wanted to pass off new helmets as old Mk Vs he should have started his serial numbers after 2178, which is the helmet pictured in the 1916 US Navy Diving Manual. The shoddy workmanship and desperate business practices are separate issues, and have no bearing on this helmet or its lineage.DESCO’s considered opinion based on documentary evidence and first hand observation of this helmet is that MDE Mark V helmet 5752 is a 1944 Mark V sold commercially to a diving contractor. At some point in its life it received some creative modifications. They are not unusual by any measure as we have seen many examples of modified helmets over the years. In DESCO’s own company collection is DESCO Mark V 3038 10/5/45. It had been modified with a Morse Commercial faceplate and spring lock.The provenance given in the Ebay ad is not supported by any documentation in the Morse records. We do not possess any shipping data for Morse products during WWII. There is no way to determine where individual shipments, much less where an individual helmet went.On Jun-14-21 at 11:28:05 PDT, seller added the following information:The key takeaway: "The quality of the helmet is superior to any helmet produced by Morse Diving in the last 40 years."
