East German Police Tshako Review

[Chad2008]

Hi guys,

I have been offered this East German Tshako, has some wear and tear, some slight cracking and a nice old liner, the chinstrap appears to be a replacement and wondered if these can be picked up, shell is solid.
I am dipping my toes into DDR items at the moment and just wanted some thoughts please.

Thanks,

Mike.

[Chad2008]

More pics

Side view and rear

[Chad2008]

Liner pic

Liner

[friede]

nice pice, and it looks like so if the patch is still inside the top, thats very often missing...
if the offer have an good price, you should it take...

[Gordon Craig]

Chad2008,

These are not easy to find and expensive when they do come up for auction. As Friede says, if the price is reasonable don't pass it up. I think you would regret not buying it in the future.

Regards,

Gordon

[Chad2008]

Tshako

Thanks for the comments guys, would a West German Tshako chinstrap be ok as a replacement or are the East German examples different? Wondered if I would be able to obtain a better replacement than the current one which looks rarther crudely made.

Thanks,

Mike.

[torstenbel]

Hi Mike, West German Police Tschacko chin straps were black. This one here looks like it is brown or is that just the lighting? Not sure now, but would East German ones have been black or brown? Cheers, Torsten.

[Chad2008]

Tshako

Hi Torsten,
I am not certain if they were either colour but I have seen East German examples with black chinstraps. The replacement on this tshako is brown although it's not a leather material so would need replacing.

Thanks
Mike.

[Gordon Craig]

Chad2008,

Pictures in Wilhelm Zoller's book "KOPFBEDECKNUNGEN MILITARISCH UNIFORMIERT ORGANIZATIONEN IN EUROPE DEUTSCHE DEMOkRATISCHE REPUBLIC" show the enlisted men's chin straps as black leather on these helmets. West German police schako's had chin straps very similar to East German ones but I do not know if they would fit. I don't have an East German schako so I can not try to exchange them.

Regards,

Gordon

[Chad2008]

Tshako

Many thanks for the confirmation Gordon, that helps a lot. It should be a little easier to get a black chinstrap (I hope!) if they are of the same pattern.

Thanks again,

Mike.

[Dallasfan]

The chinstrap on my tshako looks almost black , but it's dark brown .




Regards , Johan

[friede]

there are many colors at east german strips - but an west german - looks other - west germany are nearly WWI and WWII stripes - east german - lokks like yours - thats OK!!

[Gordon Craig]

Gentlemen,

The more we study things the more confused we become. The best we can do is look at what we have and make our own decisions as to what is correct for that Schako. No doubt there are different colours of chin straps. Were numerous different colours worn on these East German Schako in the time period they were worn? Were the chinstraps supposed to be black as issued? Only the people who actually wore the Schakos can answer that question.

Regards,

Gordon

[friede]

<div align="center"><p><img src="http://cdn01.trixum.de/upload2/175200/175122/2/2d32dd5b84065ee077478a45f1f168592.jpg" /></p><p><img src="http://cdn01.trixum.de/upload2/175200/175122/3/3dca275ef29a6b7c196e1a4f61ad28c3b.jpg" /></p><p><img src="http://cdn01.trixum.de/upload2/175200/175122/5/5046786ba074758ed2d6633e9e061227f.jpg" />

[SCHUPO]

The chinstrap is made in the correct manner. A West German chin strap would look incorrect as it is made differently. I suspect the chin strap is probably original (made with Ersatz materials) and has faded and aged or is a period replacement. I would leave it alone.