White Police Shako

[bwanek1]

Gentlemen,

I do not collect police items, so please forgive my ignorance.

I ran across photos of this shako and found it very interesting. Though I do not necessarily look for police items, I can't recall ever having seen a white shako before. I did a search of this forum and found one reference to white shakos having been worn by traffic police, but there were no photos. It also said that the white shakos had gold insignia, while this one has silver.

Is this an original TR white shako, or is it, perhaps, a post-war West or East German shako with TR insignia added?

Thanks,
Brad

[bwanek1]

Well, I have done some digging online and I found a website belonging to forum member Ernst-H (http://www.germanpolice.org/index2.h...ar-tschako.htm) with the following:

Verkehrspolizei

The white tschako was allready in use before 1936. At that time it had silver fittings. With the introduction of the new uniform in 1936 the fittings, including Polizei eagle front, were to be in gold-finish. This tschako was worn on duty untill the introduction of the white topped visorcap for the Verkehrspolizei in may 1937. The white tschako could still be worn on special occasions.

This image shows the white Verkehrspolizei Tschako being worn. Allthough it has not much detail, portion of the eagles wing can be seen at the viewers left of the tschako. Picture was taken around 1937

Am I correct that this style of shako is fairly rare?

[W.Unland]

Hello,

The tschako you show seems to have been spray painted white. You can see overpray on the brims. It looks like a period tschako from the inside.Also these should have gold fittings as you pointed out. I would be suspicious of it.

It could have been painted for use after the war, or it could be collector/dealer painted for higher sale price. The authentic white tschakos were colored with a white lacquer, not spray paint.

Authentic examples are very rare and EXPENSIVE.

Regards,
Bill Unland

[Gerd W.]

Hello,

The tschako you show seems to have been spray painted white. You can see overpray on the brims. It looks like a period tschako from the inside.Also these should have gold fittings as you pointed out. I would be suspicious of it.

It could have been painted for use after the war, or it could be collector/dealer painted for higher sale price. The authentic white tschakos were colored with a white lacquer, not spray paint.

Authentic examples are very rare and EXPENSIVE.

Regards,
Bill Unland

That's a post war Berlin tschako body. VUPA wasn't a pre 45 manufacturer (and of course no Weimar one).

White colored Berlin tschakos (with period coloring) are still not very common.

[W.Unland]

Dear Gerd,

Well I guess that answers that question. I didn't know that maker was strictly post war. Good information. Still looks spray painted to me.

Regards,
Bill U

[bwanek1]

Many thanks for confirming my suspicion. I knew there would be experts in this area on the forum who would have the answer.

Now, it's back to SS for me.

Cheers,
Brad

[JoeW]

The pre-war label was H. Becker. Friedrich Becker was post war and supplied the shakos for the Berlin Bereitschaftspolizei in the 1950s according to Radecke.

[Dave C.]

Hmmm, how interesting...I've saved pictures of this particular tshako before, although I don't remember exactly where, and in different state of condition. Notice the same damage to the label...

[Dave C.]

Exterior shot...notice anything different?

[Dave C.]

Just another shot of the interior

[Dave C.]

Side1

[Dave C.]

Side2

[Dave C.]

Just for interest, here is another that appears to have been modified to reflect that which Radecke used...or perhaps it was the one. When in hand, it was obvious that the wool was removed and then painted.

[SCHUPO]

Dave,

If this is the same all white Tschako the visor has been repainted. My understanding is that all the black and white traffic Tschakos were postwar. At least the Hamburg traffic police wore them.

[JoeW]

The buckles in the first photo look gold color? Or are they just dirty? But the posts in your photo Dave are gold colored? Has the chin-strap been replaced or painted too?