There is only one maker of the tropical side-caps that put 4 grommets in their caps that I have seen, know or have heard about. And this is not that maker;
https://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/for....php?t=1047890
So we either have an obscure tropical cap maker of an unknown version of the 4 grommet tropical side-cap or we have a fake ???
For starters based on those poor quality photos, I do not know if I like what I can see of the trop cockade or possibly the material the liner is made from. The images are simply not clear enough for any certainty and add to the feeling things are wrong. Plus only a very limited number of known German cap makers, crimped the grommets that way. Again based on limited image quality, they could be real grommets but possibly the wrong colour for a 43 dated cap.
Adding to this confusion it has no turn-up that can be pulled down over the ears. I have never seen that on any German side-cap ever ??? It is made like billed tropical M40 with no bill or the bill has been removed.
If the bill has been removed then that would explain a lot in terms of the turn up and grommets, but is it a fake with a removed bill ???
Also the edge of the circumference of the cap is sewn the wrong way round. The raw folded edge of twill is sewn over the red liner not under the folded edge of the liner so the folded raw edges of both can not be seen. I have only ever seen that on Czechoslovakia side-caps that have lost the leather sweatband. Has the sweatband been removed from a 2nd model billed trop M40 (fake billed trop M40 ?) I can see what looks to be where a line of sewing was at the very bottom of the circumference of the twill.
At the very least, better images are needed to determine if the basic trop cap which may have started life as a billed example is a real cap or a fake, before it was modified into a side-cap
It is weird in more ways than one and sold in 24 hours for US$425 before postage, However, not one I would want in my collection. What do others think ?
Chris
https://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/for....php?t=1047890
So we either have an obscure tropical cap maker of an unknown version of the 4 grommet tropical side-cap or we have a fake ???
For starters based on those poor quality photos, I do not know if I like what I can see of the trop cockade or possibly the material the liner is made from. The images are simply not clear enough for any certainty and add to the feeling things are wrong. Plus only a very limited number of known German cap makers, crimped the grommets that way. Again based on limited image quality, they could be real grommets but possibly the wrong colour for a 43 dated cap.
Adding to this confusion it has no turn-up that can be pulled down over the ears. I have never seen that on any German side-cap ever ??? It is made like billed tropical M40 with no bill or the bill has been removed.
If the bill has been removed then that would explain a lot in terms of the turn up and grommets, but is it a fake with a removed bill ???
Also the edge of the circumference of the cap is sewn the wrong way round. The raw folded edge of twill is sewn over the red liner not under the folded edge of the liner so the folded raw edges of both can not be seen. I have only ever seen that on Czechoslovakia side-caps that have lost the leather sweatband. Has the sweatband been removed from a 2nd model billed trop M40 (fake billed trop M40 ?) I can see what looks to be where a line of sewing was at the very bottom of the circumference of the twill.
At the very least, better images are needed to determine if the basic trop cap which may have started life as a billed example is a real cap or a fake, before it was modified into a side-cap
It is weird in more ways than one and sold in 24 hours for US$425 before postage, However, not one I would want in my collection. What do others think ?
Chris
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