very rare Willy Sprengfeil Tropical M40

[Tim O'Keefe]

Hi Chris
These caps first showed up in the 1980's.They were picked as fakes then and still are 30 years later.
Mark G correct with regard to shape and another giveaway is the cockade which is a copy. You will notice the blip on the red centre (see photo)
The best person to talk to about these is Dal McGuirk, I have a copy of a letter (somehere in a box) he wrote to a Australian dealer highliting the faults with these caps.
Cheers Mark S

These caps with red bump cockades have been in collectors hands since at least the '70's and are thought by some DAK collectors to be original.

[Mark Gibson]

These caps with red bump cockades have been in collectors hands since at least the '70's and are thought by some DAK collectors to be original.

Tim,
This may apparently be the case but these cockades still appear on a high number of fake caps. Are they a 70's creation?

Mark

[Tim O'Keefe]

Tim,
This may apparently be the case but these cockades still appear on a high number of fake caps. Are they a 70's creation?

Mark

No they are thought to be original from the War as with some of the caps labled fake in the last few years. Talkin about the CW M40's thought not to exist some years ago, but now several examples have surfaced in the recent years. At least two with a long history in some of the Old Guard DAK collections.

Ralph explained the cockades in this thread...

http://70.87.163.50/forums/showthread.php?t=335628 Post # 14 etc

Can not speak for the "Willy" fakes but would be careful with any M40 from this maker.