When considering buying ancient Greek helmets there are a few things to bear in mind.

1. First and foremost every ancient Greek Bronze Helmet found on eBay is a forgery! Greek helmets are so exceedingly rare as to NEVER be auctioned online like this! Any such helmet billed as authentic should have a complete packet of paperwork detailing where it came from and letters of authenticity from antiquities authorities. Private museums located in China don't count! Neither do mysterious private English collections!

a. Greek helmets were formed form a single sheet of Bronze are are quite thin and have no seams. Any helmets showing seams is fake.

b. Greek helmets in museums show a patina that is usually darker not bright green. Bronze patina should not look like acid was spilled on the helmet. It should be an even oxidization. Bronze corrodes differently than iron and patina never effects the structural integrity.

c. Any auction where the bidders identities are hidden are scams.

d. Helmets in this time period were coveted and passed down from father to son, so they were not made in high numbers and have never been the most common tomb find. Due to their inherent thiness they are typically discovered quite damaged or crushed.

e. "This helmet was excavated in Thessaly over 150 years ago"; "This helmet is from a private English collection." This sound familiar? Run a check through eBay and see how many of these helmet auctions have ended, you'll see either of these two or both descriptions in nearly all of them.

There has been a sudden and alarming upswing in fake helmets because each one can sell for over $3000 dollars. Illyrian style helmets were common and are easy to fake. Though found all throughout Greece and Macedonia these helmets were never in nor found in the Balkans. Do your research and look at the examples in Bona Fide Museums...they look NOTHING like eBay helmets! Phrygian style helmets are popular on eBay lately. One glaring clue to their being fake is twofold. They are sold out of China and the spout of the helmet is backwards on these poorly made fakes!

I am revising this guide as new trends have emerged! Note the lack of a direct claim to being authentic, they simply lead you along. Be careful and don't bid high because someone else is bidding and therefore you think it must be a real artifact. Also a number of helmets being sold as genuine ancient Greek helmets can actually be found on HellenicArt's website. He sells these reproduction Bronze helmets already patinaed. Some enterprising individuals are buying these for $500 and selling them on eBay for thousands! Same helmets!

Please, please....research these helmets online. A simple Google image search can turn up many photos of these helmets in Museums. They look nothing like what you are bidding on here! BE INFORMED....as the buyer it really is your only defense. You will have spent thousands of dollars for junk and you will never get a refund! Hate to see that happen