The SSh-68N “Blank” steel helmet, indexed as 6B14.

This helmet is so rare that when we received it, we were as happy as children receiving an unexpected gift. This item will be an exclusive piece in any collection of helmets. Considering that this helmet ended up with us during the war of 2022-2023, it is an item with a great history. And when it is transformed into a beautiful item by our craftsmen, it will be priceless.

The patent for it was filed in 2004 by a group of Russian inventors (16 people). They considered this helmet to be an invention, something new and experimental. One could argue about this, but we will not get into those conversations. What is valuable to us is that such helmets are very rare specimens that were passed on to special units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia. It is this version for the employees of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs that had slightly more aramid material added than for the military.

In fact, this helmet is a modernization of the steel helmet of the 68 model, into the interior of which an aramid fiber (Kevlar) was placed and a more comfortable liner system was inserted. That’s it. It seems that based on this patent, “modern” helmets for the Russian army, called “Kolpak-20,” are currently being produced for $400 each. The aramid coating increased the weight of the old helmet by 500 grams, and the total weight of such a specimen began to be 2 kg, with a maximum wearing time of 8 hours. It belongs to the 1st protection class and can protect against handgun bullets and small fragments.

Such helmets are very rare specimens on the battlefield, one could say they are a “limited edition.” There is practically no information about them in the public domain. Perhaps this is because this helmet is a secret development 🙂 Although, most likely, this is due to the poverty and corruption in Russia in the 2000s, which created something resembling modern protection standards from the Soviet steel helmet. Some sources write that such helmets are still being produced for the Russian army, and if so, this is very good for Ukraine.

An art object made from such a helmet will be an exclusive piece in your collection.

You can read information about this helmet in general articles about the 1968 helmet model: In English: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SSh-68

In the language of the occupier: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A1%D0%A8-68

You can also watch a video from a collector about this helmet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUEn-V4Xq3k