From the Vet's family..a M43EM SS cap

[Terry K.]

Markings

Hey Perry,
Any luck on the markings? So far all I know is the firm was from Brunn(Brno) Czech. Still haven't figured out the rest.
Terry

[Perry Floyd]

No not really, Mike Beaver mentioned he's seen this maker before..Aren't the black ones much more rare? Since I've acquired this cap I have just touched the surface on studying these...
My good friend John Hodgin photo'd the cap earlier this week for the Beaver book. So it will have much more detail than the photo's here..If you get the book check it out...

[Skip Pickett]

New Pic Posted for Perry:

Posted for Perry...

[Perry Floyd]

I had Skip post this trap insigna for me. It was purchased from the vets family but not by me so I can only go with my friends word but it looks 100% to me.
My questions is this, I've allways thought the one on my cap is the last type trap insigna made. And the one I've posted here the style before it. Am I correct in this or does someone else have a different opinion?
Could it be this type was only for SS Panzer troops??

[Terry K.]

Hi Perry,
If I remember correctly my buddies was exactly like yours , insignia and all and they were panzer. I believe that you are correct, your type (on hat) was the last one.
Terry

[Perry Floyd]

Yes Terry, the one on my M43 I believe was the last trap used but wasn't sure..the one I posted after that was used prior and before that the two piece insigna was used. Can anyone add to this? Is this correct? Did SS panzer troops use a special one, besides it being on black?

[Skip Pickett]

SS eagle...

I posted a new thread under "SS Hat Eagle"...it came with the trapizoid I posted above for Perry..

Perry: Your PM box has been "full" for 2 days... Skip

[ReichsHeini]

waffen m-43

Perry,
This is a very nice cap. Your cap has the second to last insignia utilized by Waffen SS.
The insignia on m-43 went basically in this order:
1st- two-piece BEVo skull and eagle with the eagle sewn to the left pull-down panel.
2nd- two piece BEVo skull and eagle with the eagle sewn above the skull on the front of the cap (often seen on one-button m-43s)
3rd- two-rows teeth BEVo trapezoid, which you have posted a fine original example of above. (made in green and black)
4th- single-row teeth BEVo trapezoid (smaller skull version) made in green only
5th- single-row teeth BEVO trapezoid (made by BEVo-Wuppertal) with the slightly larger round skull (made in both green and black)
6th- the first pattern embroidered wool trapezoid which appears on your m-43 cap.
7th- final version emroidered wool trapezoid, commony reffered to as the "pirate trap" by SS collectors. This is the one commonly seen on black panzer m-43 caps recovered at Dachau. This was the very last trap insignia found to be used in period photographs.
A great debate exists among SS collectors as to whether a printed trapezoid was ever produced or issued at the end of the war. Examples are in collections, but nobody remembers these type insignia showing up on the scene until the 1980s and there are no period photographs to substantiate it. They did produce printed sleeve eagles so it is possible they existed.

If I may add you cap appears to be a fine original example SS m-43, and the insignia looks very good too. There are many variations in this particular pattern trapezoid due to the way these machine embroidered ones were made. There are also lots of fakes of this type. (The eyes and fracture lines are the key details to eaxamine when looking for a repro.)
I personally have seen many many late war black m-43 caps with this exposed visor (selling for $1400-1600 now), but the gray ones seem more scarce, and I have only seen a handful of them. This is a very nice find and even better since you have great provenance on the cap.
These caps were not necessarily made at Dachau. Dachau was the central storage and distribution for the SS-BW and many of the cloth items recovered by vets there were made at other locations (Ravensbruck, Radam, Bayreuth etc.) In my opinion your cap's value would be $2000-$2500 in current market.
Please email me if you ever consider selling this item!
ReichHeini

[Perry Floyd]

Now I was under the impression that the black panzer SS M43's were more rare? So this is not the case?? $1500 seems cheap for a SS panzer M43?

Was the reason for the invent of the embroidered trap because the Bevo-Wuppertal factory was destroyed?

Look for this M43 in the upcoming SS headgear book as much more detailed pics were taken. Also of note was the fact the bottom of the trap was never sewn, the rest was factory sewn...