M18 Ear Cut out

M

michaelwwi

New member
Hello all apologies as my last post on the helmet had the photos deleted somehow... Have received the M18 Cut out and it is indeed genuine, angles and maker's stamp and all. I believe the damage to be de-milling as opposed to shrapnel damage unfortunately. Please let me know what you think of it!
 
Cool. Looks like a bullet passed thru back to front. Whoever was wearing that got quite a headache!
 
Good question. De milling, “Demilitarization “. We have photos taken after the war of these steel helmets having holes punched in them with pick axes. The Treaty of Versailles required that German war materials and machines like aircraft be destroyed. So the suggestion here about this piece is that the holes in it were caused after the war. This could easily be determined by simply looking at the holes. A pick axe punching in from outside will produce holes where the steel is driven inwards. In and out bullet holes will have the steel pushed in on the entry hole and the steel pushed out for the exit hole. This would also apply to in and out shrapnel holes.
 
There is a famous picture of someone doing the pick-axe work to a pile of helmets after the war. These still turn up today, they usually have a distinctive square looking hole to the top.

On the subject of damaged WW1 steel helmets, I know a collector / dealer in Belgium who brings his goods over to a couple of UK shows, he is mainly specializing in battlefield dig-ups, often with damaged helmets. Such helmets are so often ripped, or caved in, and apparently most of this damage is caused by farmers ploughs dragging the helmet out of the earth, the helmet now much weaker having been rusting away in soil for a hundred years.
 
Yes the pick axes here in N Am. have squared points as well. Obviously, no dug WW1 artifacts here, although some do show up at the militaria shows. Dug things here....Civil War (USA), War of 1812 (Some Brit, FR, CN and US) and Indigenous Peoples. The Native artifacts....metal European trade goods and flint weapons and tools. As a young farm boy, my father assembled a collection of flint arrow heads and spear points turned over by the plow on the family farm here in S Ontario.
 
Not much to dig-up from the World Wars in the UK either. But on a similar theme, I have always been interested in the Battle of Britain, and the Blitz. From that, in my workshop, I do have a small collection of items relating to the air-war such as incendiary bomb tails and fuses, a few pieces of downed aircraft etc. I like to find pieces where there is a bit of history as to where they fell to earth. If I have the info, I put a sticker on saying so such as "incendiary bomb fuse from the Leeds attack 1941", etc. Thankfully things like that can still be had for not much money. Its an enjoyable side line to my WW1 German collecting.
 
michaelwwi said:
Truce1914 said:
Hello Michael. Is there a batch number visible to the inside of the dome ?
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Yes, there is! It's R1783. Here's a photo.
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Out of interest, I checked the number on mine and it is R1778. although mine still has some of its felt camo finish as per the first 2000 issued and field tested.
 
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