HG Panzer M43?

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There is are clear signs of wear and soiling to the liner of my cap.

However, the cap has been given a heavy wash in a washing machine or hand washed/ scrubbed on a washing board. This has removed a lot of it. There is sweat/ water staining that will not come out and some remaining residue of encrusted grime.

Also the type of "tea towel"/ "T-shirt" material used for the liner seems to have absorbed the wear and grime due to the nature of its weave (when compared to twill or satin lining). This liner material is more resilient than one would first think and possibly had a smoother look/ feel when brand new before use/ washing .

It is thus hard to photograph the wear and tear. In a photo everything is just coming out as an even sort of steel/ bluish-grey colour. In hand however, you can see the wear, staining and remaining grime an quite clearly. Perhaps Allan might comment about the amount of wear on his liner ???

Here are some daylight images of the cap turned inside-out,

Chris

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More images of the liner 1

Chris

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More images of the liner 2

Chris

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More images of the liner 3

Chris

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Another interesting observation which has been made about my cap, is the LW blue grey thread used to manufacture it.

Of course in 1943, 44 & 45 many makers were probably using whatever they could get their hands on which was suitable for the purpose.

However, in a couple of long threads about panzer wraps specifically made for the HG to order by the LW. It was put forward that an HG wrap would have a liner in a suitable LW liner colour like a LW flight blouse. They would probably use LW thread in the blue grey because the HG wraps would have been made by the factories that made LW uniforms like the flight blouse. Thus holding contracts with the LW plus supplies of such thread. "Carl Halfar" held such a contract to make LW hats & caps.

I can not say if this is right or wrong but it is interesting that when this panzer M43 was made they have used LW type blue/ grey thread rather than black. Not something many fakers would have know before those threads on this forum about black HG panzer wraps.

Keep in mind that these M43's surfaced not long after the Berlin Wall came down in 1989,

Chris

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More images of the LW blue-grey thread used to make the cap

Chris

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More images of the LW blue-grey thread
Chris

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Couple more images with slightly less day light. Black and grey are very hard to photograph without it all merging.

When you hold the cap in hand, the colour contrast between the two is clearly apparent,

Chris

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Close ups of an exposed/ worn area in the top image and unexposed / non-faded area in the lower image,

Chris

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Keep in mind that these M43's surfaced not long after the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, Chris

I was perhaps not as clear as I should have been with the above statement. I should have said;

" the biggest hoard of these M43's surfaced not long after the wall came down in 1989 "

There have been a couple which have turned up in other finds but in no where near the numbers that were found at the Moscow museum.

Currently, I am corresponding with some of the collectors who know of the find. My hope is that some pictures of how they were found in the basement of the museum still exist.

"yes, when we went to Russia in the 1990´s, they did for sure not have any superfakes then. It came much later, they had tons of original stuff so nobody
bothered "

Chris

[OSS]

Infinitely rarer would be a wartime photo of an HG soldier wearing one of these caps.

[90th Light]

Infinitely rarer would be a wartime photo of an HG soldier wearing one of these caps.

True,

but it would be an amazing collector who could tell the exact maker of a black panzer M43 in any such HG photo. Take the two images posted below for example. Who made these caps ???

And is the lower cap & wrap black, field grey or LW blue ???

There is a lot that photos tell us and there is a lot that they do not.

I would love to see any photos of HG panzerwaffe wearing any M43. They are not easy to find at the best of times. God knows how many the Russians destroyed or were lost in 1945 and beyond ,

Chris

[Daniel.S]

Both of the caps that Richard posted had Russian capture/ museum markings and stamps.

Both of these caps appear to be dated 1943 as does my cap. Allan's cap which started this thread appears to be dated 1944. Perhaps he could confirm that ???
Chris

I had in my past a heer m42 cap with these markings. Both halfar and those russian capture.

[Leroy]

Posted by others previously.

[OSS]

I am familiar with these images, the first one with the BEVO cockade is the rarest type (in photos). I believe with the type with the blue-grey trap the most typical. The third one is a Heer M-43 (imo). I don't think I have ever seen a black one with a padded cockade. At any rate, the subject cap is clearly not a Halfar and the lining is one I have never seen in a cap I thought to be original (it is possibly Heer overcoat sleeve lining).