Real or Fake?

[KriegsmarineFreak]

I found this Kriegsmarine sailor cap on EBay. I'm trying to decide if its fake or not. All of it looks authentic except for the tally. In the pictures you can just barely see some of the words on the tally but they look so small compared to the photos I've seen of Kriegsmarine sailors. Am I right?

Link: WW2 German hat Kriegsmarine "Donald Duck", Exc - (item 250149303113 end time Aug-05-07 21:45:13 PDT)

KMF, i wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot barge pole mate. Something really doesn't ring true. Why no front shot? Underneath the wear it looks rather new material, what stiching i can see looks like a very modern machine, and last but not least it's from Latvia.
You have doubts so don't touch it. There'll be another one along.

[morse1001]

do not touch it

[KriegsmarineFreak]

I thought something was phony about it but wasn't quite sure. That is interesting the Latavian seller doesn't show the front of it and he's claiming its authentic. Thanks for the help Kitty and Morse1001! Once on EBay I saw one seller who claimed to be selling an authentic Kriegsmarine sailor cap but it was quite obvious it was a fake since all the tally had was swastikas drawn in by the seller.

Everythign I look at I check to see if it is being sold form Eastern Europe or China - all fakes. Been caught a few times by European/British sellers, but avoid the others like the plague.

[KriegsmarineFreak]

Alright, Kitty, I will. Thanks for the info! I'll keep an eye out at where the seller is from before I bid on it.

[von Poop]

How many KM items in your collection Kitty?


While caution with 'eastern' sellers is certainly advised it's also the part of the world where collecting friends are finding genuine 'new to the market' items for very nearly reasonable prices.

If you don't know what you're doing, same as in this country, yes it's wise to steer clear (unless it's cheap and you just want it), however if you really do know what you're doing (does anyone?) 'Go east' seems to be the motto.