I can ' t explain why I am having a issue answer this question but I have typed up a bunch and deleted it 3 times now . I guess everyone has a different reason to collect and a different focus and to be honest it will most likely change multiple times depending on your money and what you enjoy collecting . Personally if I started right now again I would probably start with East Bloc head gear or Vietnam era US gear , why , well the price for most are very affordable . I could drop $ 100 and get a East German M 56 , a Polish Wz 6775 , a Hungarian M 70 and might be able to squeeze a Soviet SSh 68 if I could find a good deal and then drop another 100 and get 56 nice helmet covers to match . Or spend a few hundred to get couple nice M 1 Vietnam era helmets and a uniform . You will not make money off any of these but all of these are safe buys , not many faked since there are so many of all of them it isn ' t worth faking . With my current collection I wouldn ' t do that since nothing in my collection would match . Personally I would suggest staying away from things like WW 2 German or WW 2 Soviet since these can fool even the most seasoned collectors if you want to see a shit show of what I mean go to WAF and search Champagne SS helmets . WW 2 US helmets are going up in price like a rocket so if you can get lucky you can get a good buy . edit , I accidentally hit save . If you do decide to go with the two WW 2 I mentioned above , start buying from collectors or from actual retailers , you will not make money this way if that is your concern but you have a lot better chance of getting a good item . Remember that WW 2 ended 71 years ago and even as the war ended the craftsman who made the war items continued to make what they knew since GI ' s wanted souvenirs and continued to do it . Fake items could be bought in comics in the 60 ' s and those made in the 60 ' s will have 50 years of patina . Always buy the item not the story .