French army bush hat ?

[bolo]

I saw a cotton bush hat at the antique store that looked very similiar to this hat and the price tag was marked FRENCH BUSH HAT $9.99

it was made of thick khaki cotton and had three faded letters on the back of the brim that appeared to be Israeli?

no chin strap

looks like the same hat worn by French army in Indo China in the late 1940's and early 1950's

did the French supply the Israelis with these or is it Israeli made? I may buy it to use for a Indo China soldier display, it was in very good condition but missing the chin strap.

is $9.99 a good deal on these? they dont seem too common? it also had a number 58 stamped inside probably the size number?

[zvezdah1]

That's probably a good one, I had an original indo era bush hat many years ago, french made early 50s date and had a hebrew stamp as well. As I recall the Israeli army bought huge quantities of these surplus.

Chris

[bolo]

it sure looks like an original French army bush hat, the quality appears very well made with several rows of stitching, definitely military issue

I hope it's still there tommorow

[Paul McKee]

I was given one exactly as described with Hebrew characters and all. Must me quite a few of them floating around out there.

Paul

[Patrick Dempsey]

Bolo,

many a perfectly fine period French item has had the huge Israeli markings added to them when Israel was purchasing items from France.

The markings are quite difficult to remove.

The first item of French Camo i ever owned was a 47/53 smock with the markings partially removed by a previous collector.

There are many of the hats around and the markings drive the price down.

[bolo]

French Bush hat

I picked it up for $8

the Israeli Defense Forces marking on the back is very faded and doesnt look bad, so this can still be used for my displays or Indo China reenactment

there is also a maker mark inside that is hard to see

[zvezdah1]

great find!
Chris

[AK101]

Nice find!!

Any chance we could get some pics of the inside and the izzy markings?

THANKS

[VALERY226]

Bonjour,
Here is a very good catch! This is an official issue bush hat made by the making workshop of the french forces in far east. This version is bigger than the french metropolitan made. The snap is bigger and in white metal like the ventilation eyelets. It's very uncommon to see these bush hats stamp with israeli markings but on your the marks seem very light (in fact invisible ).
Good catch!
Cheers
Valery