"Beehive Find" - What Was It?

[RGD51]

Johannes Floch still has a few remaining bundled sidecaps, none with soutache. Will see next week at SOS.

Robt.

[Johnny R]

The ones I saw were tied with the same type of twine he had an entire shelf of them, at least 500 hats This was in 1983, when was the cache found?

[ITALIANWARFRONT]

Giorgio, thank you for posting those photos. Such a bundle is now a collector classic in its own right. I wonder how many still remain in the world today. Still all tied together like that.

Is there any chance you might still have images of some of the other caps or bundles of caps from this cache that have passed through your hands. Would it be possible to post them on this thread ?

It would make for a very interesting reference on the subject.

Many thanks,

Chris

Sorry Chris, stupid me I did no take any pictures.I had almost 400 of this caps with soutache but I remember only 5 or 6 bundles max all the other were loose some in mint some in bad conditions.

[RGD51]

Yes, that timeline sounds right as Johannes was 'the man' at the first or second MAX show in St. Louis '84-85. I think the hoard was dispersed in the late 70's. Anybody else that knows differently please correct. Having missed the first MAX in STL in '84 I am positive he was there with his hats in '85....I looked at them firsthand.

Robt.

[90th Light]

Sorry Chris, stupid me I did no take any pictures.I had almost 400 of this caps with soutache but I remember only 5 or 6 bundles max all the other were loose some in mint some in bad conditions.

No problem Giorgio,

that has happened to us all. the things we should have photographed, kept images of or backed up on the computer before the crash

Again many thanks for your reply. Perhaps others reading this may have images they can post or bundles they might photograph ?

Chris

[90th Light]

Not much a story, but here you go:

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...&highlight=hpc

Well, well, well, you learn something every day.

Sadly I do not have a mint example from the "Berchtesgaden HPC GJ visor find in the early 70's" cache/ hoard.

All I can offer is a New Zealand brought back example from an over-run German position in "Afrika". The member of 2NZEF 27MG Battalion who I got this German officer hat off served in both North Africia and Italy 1941 to 1945.

I asked more than once, surely you got the hat in Italy but no each time he said "Africa",

Chris

[90th Light]

Either way, I do no care it is a classic been there, done that example in a tropical climate. Look at the sweat staining/ damage. Amazing how a hat by this maker has held its shape through thick and thin,

Chris

[90th Light]

Look at the period field repairs to the fragile sweatband stitching that this maker seems to be notorious for then as now.

In fact it is thanks to this thread and Stonemint's post that I now know who the maker is


Chris

[Rayburn3355]

Exceptional!

[Tim O'Keefe]

I have mentioned this on another thread but when I visited Holland in 1983 I saw bundles of DAK overseas caps at a store near Den Haag. They had red lining but I do not know the maker etc. these were all unissued and did not have piping. I also spoke to a US Vet who saw a large depot full of tropical items in Italy. he remembered 100s of pith helmets and and canvas foot wear etc. There must have been very large numbers of tropical items made on contract and never shipped or used.

Think all those piths mentioned may have been the felt 2nd model surplus stock cache that was found ?

The beehive discovery dates back to 1974 i believe ? But with various release dates...

[Tim O'Keefe]

"...correct insignia application for a Clemens Wagner cap, eagles were hand stitched"

This 'blanket' statement is also incorrect.

B. N. Singer

Agree CW did use machine stitched application on it eagles also. Especially on European sidecaps.

[Tim O'Keefe]

Sorry Chris, stupid me I did no take any pictures.I had almost 400 of this caps with soutache but I remember only 5 or 6 bundles max all the other were loose some in mint some in bad conditions.

Thank You Giorgio, for adding to this thread & showing that wonderful bundle of CW caps. Your contribution to the beehive's cache is also a key positive part

Here is a bundle of LAGO caps from the beehive cache.

[Johnny R]

Think all those piths mentioned may have been the felt 2nd model surplus stock cache that was found ?

The beehive discovery dates back to 1974 i believe ? But with various release dates...

Hi Tim, this guy saw the warehouse during the War near Naples. He sent back a complete tropical uniform with a pith helmet to his son that I have sadly minus the boots that are lost. He described it as having "thousands of uniforms" and gear etc. In the 70s there was a huge influx of pith helmets being sold by Collectors armory, in the American Legion and VFW magazines. There must have been a large number of those socked away somewhere as well.

[RGD51]

With regard to the sale of 2nd pattern piths...they go back to the 60's. Advertized in gun magazines etc....Rommel's Pith helmets $14.95. Naples would certainly be the likely source for DAK stuff as that's where they departed to Africa from. I often wondered what remained there at the wars end.

Robt.

[PanzerJager1944]

I have mentioned this on another thread but when I visited Holland in 1983 I saw bundles of DAK overseas caps at a store near Den Haag. They had red lining but I do not know the maker etc. these were all unissued and did not have piping. I also spoke to a US Vet who saw a large depot full of tropical items in Italy. he remembered 100s of pith helmets and and canvas foot wear etc. There must have been very large numbers of tropical items made on contract and never shipped or used.

I have good friend and who's also an old collector who was in the army stationed in Germany in the late 70's, early 80's. While he was over there he got involved with some Germans involved in the black market. They used to explore various bunkers in the alpine redoubt and he sometimes used to accompany them. He's told me many times about finding large stocks piles of unissued Late war tropical gear including one room in a bunker where he said the entire floor was covered with tropical side caps. He has one he picked up in there, no soutache, not sure if it has a makers mark or not, been a while since I saw it.

Regards,