Box of unissued M43 Cap trapezoids

[PaulW]

Hi,
I noticed that Ardennes44 Military Antiques ( http://www.ardennes44.com/en/home.htm ) have a box of unissued M43 Cap trapezoids for sale in their German insignia section. The box originally had 100 pieces in, it's for sale with 83 remaining (17 restored M43's from this box!? ). I think it's a remarkbale piece of history as it has the maker's name on and a date of 30-8-44 (manufacture/ shipping/ dispatch to Depot date??). This kind of detailed information must be quite rare - thought I'd make a record of it here befiore it disappears. (I can't imagine the dealer will mind - it's advertising after all...)

Also, it illustrates that even today, despite the feeling that everything 3rd Reich is 'rare' there is a lot of this stuff around still!

[PaulW]

More

More

[pauke]

box

Since the box clearly states the insignia are "for the Bergmuetze" one has to wonder about the contents or the insignia regulations for late-war mt. caps.

[PaulW]

Extra pic

Added another pic. This seems original doesn't it? Why would someone fake a box? I think the nomenclature for this type of insignia during the wartime period probably doesn't match what we use today? It may just be what this manufacturer used to identify this piece of insignia with little regard for the sensitivities of us modern collectors! (In the same way that during WW2 the German's didn't have a name for M40 or M42 helmets - they were all referred to as M35.)

If this is legitimate I really thought this would be an interesting piece of history.

Any more thoughts?

[Fred Green]

Hello,

The insignia is all original, at least what we can see. Looks great.

I think that if they really didn't care for nomenclatures as todays collectors do the box would have been labled for the einheitsfeldmuetze and not something as specific as a bergmuetze. Faking boxes and containers has been going on for years. Most of the shipping stuff from the period got thrown away after the item was opened so finding a box is fantastic find.

Fred

[NickG]

Box + contents look like ligit period pieces, found "as is".
Regarding the stamp and nomenclature; the company possibly made the earlier T-eagles for bergmützen and switched to einheitz M43 traps
and used the same pre-stamped boxes from their older inventories, hence the mistake or they just did not make the distinction in those days...
We collectors are more picky! Interesteing find!

[BenVK]

Nick took the words right out of my mouth.

I'd like to own the box, not fussed about 83 Hoheitsabzeichen.

[Luciusdegeer]

The wartime nomenclature doesn't match what we use today.
What we use today is invented by collectors in the past 30 years.

L

[Mark_K]

Hi,

I have to say that I agree with the last few posts, which take the view that manufacturers could have mislabelled boxes, etc. In fact - and this is just a fun 'what if?' - the mislabelling might explain why the box and its contents survived intact. What if it was sent to a Gebirgsjager quartermaster, who opened it, found the wrong insignia, and shoved it up on a shelf to gather dust? Okay, it's just a silly theory, but it could explain why the box survived, and only 17 traps were used.

Leaving historical guesswork aside, the traps themselves look great, 100% textbook. I'm trying to think of why someone would go to the lengths of faking up a box - a mislabelled box at that - to support such original-looking pieces. It would be worth making afake box if you had some repro stuff that you were trying to pass off as 'variant' insignia, maybe even fake up some kind of stained old invoice too, but 83 textbook traps could be sold without the box, simply as a 'cache' discovered in the attic of an old tailor's store.

I think it is just a seventy year old instance of mis-labelling, but whatever we think of the box, we must be grateful that it stopped the moths from feasting on its contents.

Just my thoughts.

Have good weekends, gentlemen!

Mark