Original German Pre-WWII Early Pattern Metropolitan Police Shako in Black with Cockade & Chinstrap Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. This is a very nice Early WWII produced police pattern Tschako in black, which pre-dates the more common green wool body version. It has a very fine quality police eagle with an aluminum Feldzeichen cockade (often missing), which is in great shape. It is marked on the back with the “Barred A” trademark of F. W. Assmann & Söhne of Lüdenscheid. The shako is the black type as by the metropolitan police, unlike some of the more common ones found in brown for rural police. The front of the tschako has the correct aluminum NSDAP Schutzpolizei (protection police) emblem, retained by the correct nuts on the back. This tschako would have been used by the Ordnungspolizei (Order Police), the Schutzpolizei (Protection Police), or the Gemeindepolizei (Local Municipal Police), personnel.

Interior is fine, leather liner is supple and in good condition, and has the original leather top tie string, though it is broken and has been retied. There is some staining and wear to the sweatband, so this tschako definitely did see some use. Comes complete with original leather chinstrap in great shape. Overall it shows light wear, the black lacquered finish still very good, with lovely checking and crazing. Vents are in very good condition, and are the type that has no slide closure. The inner crown of the tschako looks to have had a label originally however it most likely fell off decades ago.

Overall a fine looking rare police Shako, ready to add to your collection!

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 sabres.