Q: I’m a collector based in Chicago who specializes in mostly gas masks or war masks weather they be cold weather pieces or pilot respirators. I have a few very scarce pieces that I was wondering if you would be interested in purchasing. The mask pictured is an unknown WWI era Italian prototype mask. It was obtained from a very well known collector in Spain who owns about 2500 masks. It comes in a tin which is stamped 1916 but the mask may possibly be post-war and just stuffed into an older tin. It is definitely pre-WWII though. It looks to be based off of the tampon mask but has multiple strange features which make it stand out from the rest. The mask was found in a chemical factory along with a couple other rare WWI pieces. Rick, 674
A: What a great mask this is, and I’m so glad to share it with our viewers. As far as possibly buying it goes, MasksoftheWorld.com is for a wide range of collectors and we purposely keep our prices in the medium-to-low range. You should be offering this to a select few of highly specialized collectors. It might have been an inspiration for certain steampunk and sexual fetish masks! A+ (This grade is for museum pieces.)
