GERMAN WWI M 18 EAR CUTOUT HELMET.

A rare example of the M 18 ear cutout helmet which has been battle damaged and posted home but still has a lot of the original soft furry flock camouflage covering to the skull. Excellent research by Oliver Lock in his work 'Stahlschutzhelme' from page 84 to 89, reveals that the first 100,000 helmets of this type received an extra coating of wool dust (wollstaub). Helmets of this type are now considered very rare. All the M 18 helmets were marked E.T. 64. This example has a battle damage crack 8.5 cm in length at the top of the skull. The remainder of the skull has virtually all of its soft furry finish remaining with minor abrasions as can be seen by our web images, the helmet has also been posted home from Europe to the United States using the Army Postal Service, on the rear of the helmet is an address label which unfortunately is unreadable with its American postage stamps, to the inner rear skirt of the skull is another label, again very difficult if not impossible to read which is probably the name of the sender. The interior white leather lining is all intact although some of the tongues have congealed, the original drawstring is present, also present is the rare carbine clip chinstrap. Marked with a ink stamped 64 with a large K into the rear skirt. These helmets with this flock finish remaining have always been difficult to obtain.

Code: 93335