Well, we will have to disagree on this one. The veteran source on this was above reproach and several noted experts on headgear have also said it was fine. There are plenty of noted "experts" in this field who make big blunders (panzer wrap recently) and cannot even agree on what is right.I have been at this long enough to know when I am confident of something it requires "real" proof the convince me I am wrong.
Chris, If you can show me some other repros of this cap,or identical markings in a repro cap, I might think differently and concede you are right and I am wrong. Gut feeling is not enough, as it's wrong as often as right and experience is good only on previously encountered items.
I recall years ago buying 30 Fuhrer HQ cufftitles (still bundled together in the original paper wrapper )from 101st Airborne vet, beautiful mint ones. All the big wheels, said they were no good, too mint, wrong material, etc. One dealer bought most of them, then resold them to all the naysayers who liked them when he had them.
I have also collected Civil war and Revolutionary War stuff for 40 years an can tell you many of the so called experts in the field are wrong as often as they are right. Many of the most repected reference works are full of fakes and misidentified items (sound like WW2 collecting?).
