Police M43 Thoughts Please

[airborne_steve]

Hi gang,

I'm just getting in to collecting police uniform kit. I'm not an expert on M43 police hats and would like your opinions on it. All comments are welcome.

Steve

[gary9]

I believe the insignia is repro, notice the large X bottom of the insignia, I believe this is one of the new generations of reproduction insignia. If the insignia is bad then it is a good guess that the rest is as well. Reminds me of the repro Browns.

I believe that all these cap insignia should have some kind of tie and NOT an X. Every cap that I have, the eagle has a tie and not an X as follows

[gary9]

Another

[gary9]

and another

[gary9]

Other eagles, still no X

[Huntzman]

Steve

I have to agree with Gary, all the haus / feld mutze hat patches in my collection, as well as all those I have seen, have the tied wreath ends.

Hopefully others will chime in shortly.

Also, it is hard to tell from the pics but it looks like there is damage / repair "under" wear the insignia. Could just be the lighting in the pic. Take a look at the area I am talking about.

[dread]

its just a bad picture mate not a repo!

[Michael Kuligowski]

IMHO - hat maybe good - but I am not sure about insignia - the hat I have has the same insignia like posted by Gary in post no. 4

on the other hand - if insignia proved fake - then whole hat should be questioned. my hat has a very dark blue lining - thats the color I would expect from police M43's

[W.Unland]

Hello,

I will limit my comments to the insignia as I do not consider myself competent to comment on these cloth caps any more. The reproductions are too good, that said;this cap doesn't look glaringly bad to me.

The comments about cap insignia posted by Gary and others are certainly valid. BUT there are certainly variations in machine woven insignia, and there were more than a few manufacturers of these eagles. Each manufacturer turned out a different pattern eagle. These later war "trap" insignia are not well studied at this point and I have NO idea how many variations exist.

I have NOT seen this particular eagle for sale as a reproduction yet so I would tend to error on the side of it's being OK. If I do find a similar eagle offered as a repro then I will be convinced, but at this point I cannot declare the eagle bad.

Here is the common reproduction Gary was referring to with the "rosette" at the bottom of the wreath. The cap eagle in question is certainly different from this.

Regards,
Bill Unland

[W.Unland]

Here is a fire cap I have with a different wreath bottom than those pictured, more similar to the incident insignia. Of course this example is embroidered, but it does show that ribbons were incorporated into cap insignia.

Regards,
Bill Unland

[dread]

hi
i have just scanned my cap while waiting for the camera batteries to charge
again the image is not the best

[NickG]

I like the hat, its overall construction and appearance. The eagle insignia could have variances based on the maker... I agree. Here's mine for comparison! Came from a veteran and has no "X" in the wreath... but it still does not bother me as the hat looks good! I liner shot would be helpful for a more definite determination!!!!

[dread]

another better pic up close!

[Michael Kuligowski]

I like it to be honest.. thanks for better pictures !

[gary9]

Michael Kuligowski That is a lovely cap, single line of stitching around the turn up flap, cannot get any better.

The wideness of the two lines of stitching around the turn up also bothers me, on the first cap.