Original German WWII 1942 Dated Late Pattern Metropolitan Police Shako by H. Becker & Co. – Size 58 Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. This is a very nice 1936 Metropolitan Police Officer’s pattern Tschako, with the late pattern police green wool body and black leather trim. This replaced the original all leather style used up until that point. It has a very fine quality police officer eagle aluminum wappen (front plate) with aluminum Feldzeichen cockade (often missing) and black leather chinstrap. A great Polizei helmet (shako) as used by the metropolitan police! Unlike some of the more common ones found trimmed in brown for rural police, this one is with black trim for the municipal police.

The trim on this shako is in very good shape, still mostly glossy, although the top of the visor under the chinstrap is a bit degraded. The chinstrap itself unfortunately has dried out over the decades, and is now in delicate condition, partly cracked through on one end near the lug. The interior tan finished leather liner is in very good condition, still retaining the original top tie leather strap, though it is broken in several places. The leather is supple and shows only light overall wear wear, with no tearing or other issues.

It is marked with the size and retailer and maker on the inner dome top:

58

H. BECKER & Co
G. M. B. H.
BERLIN C 2

We also checked on the under side of the liner, and there is another size 58 stamp, as well as a 1942 date. Vents are in good condition with working slide closures on both sides. With both the Maker and Retailer located in Berlin, we can probably assume that this was issued to a Police Officer in the Berlin Metropolitan area.

Overall it is offered in very good condition from a well known German manufacture, ready to display!

History of the shako-
The word shako originated from the Hungarian name csákós süveg (“peaked cap”), which was a part of the uniform of the Hungarian hussar of the 18th century. Other spellings include chako, czako, schako and tschako.

From 1800 on the shako became a common military headdress, worn by the majority of regiments in the armies of Europe and the Americas. Replacing in most instances the light bicorne, the shako was initially considered an improvement. Made of heavy felt and leather, it retained its shape and provided some protection for the soldier’s skull, while its visor shaded his eyes. The shako retained this pre-eminence until the mid-19th century, when spiked helmets began to appear in the armies of the various German States, and the more practical kepi replaced it for all but parade wear in the French Army. The Imperial Russian Army substituted a spiked helmet for the shako in 1844-45 but returned to the latter headdress in 1855, before adopting a form of kepi in 1864. Following the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, military fashions changed and cloth or leather helmets based on the German headdress began to supersede the shako in many armies.

Although the mid-nineteenth century shako was impressive in appearance and added to the height of the wearer, it was also heavy and by itself provided little protection against bad weather as most models were made of cloth or felt material over a leather body and peak. Many armies countered this by utilizing specially designed oilskin covers to protect the shako and the wearer from heavy rain while on campaign. The shako provided little protection from enemy action as the most it could offer was in giving partial shielding of the skull from enemy cavalry sabers.