M18 helmet (general question)

[calguymilitaria]

Hello everyone. I acquired this M18 helmet shell a while back. It is marked ET64. I was just wondering how many of these helmets were made. I'm not talking about the M16 or the cutout version of this helmet (of which around 100,000 were made). But just the M18 by itself. I find it strange how I can't find numbers for it considering we have at least an estimate for # of M18 cutouts that were created. Thanks to anyone who has info on my question.

[AndyM35]

It’s an interesting question but probably one that’s quite hard to answer accurately taking into account the lack of documentation. The 100,000 ECO helmet figure appears to derive from documents of the German Imperial War Ministry presented in Ludwig Baers book “History of the German Steel Helmet 1916-1945. This document (dated August 1, 1918) specifies the 100,000 ECO’s were to be finished with a coating of wool dust also known as Wollstaub, however the actual number of ear cut out helmets manufactured was likely higher considering a specific figure 100,000 was designated rather thank an all out directive.

From a collectors point of view, the M16 helmet is far more often encountered than the M18. And in terms of WW1 camouflage helmets, M16 helmets are more dominant suggesting the number of M18 helmets manufactured and in use by the end of the war was significantly smaller by comparison. However, I have not come across any documentation with an exact figure and perhaps some of these records were some of the many lost during bombing raids on Germany during WW2.