Germany, RAD. A Reich Labour Service EM/NCO’s M43 Service Cap, by Heinrich Balke

(Einheitsfeldmütze M43 für Männer der Reichsarbeitsdienst). A very well-preserved Reich Labour Service (RAD) EM/NCO’s M43 field cap, constructed of heavy olive-drab wool. The cap is fully surrounded by fold-down side panels, scalloped at the front, offering optional ear and neck protection to the wearer. When not in use, the panels are rolled up and secured in place at the front with a single pebbled zink buttons which emanates from the right panel and meets a reinforced buttonhole on the left panel. Pinned onto the left panel is a Winterhilfswerk 1938/1918 campaign badge, constructed of bakelite, appropriately consisting of a RAD “Robin Hood”-style service cap measuring 30 mm (w) x 20 mm (h). Stitched onto the peak is an insignia consisting of a dark green cotton-blended backer bearing a machine-embroidered multi-coloured RAD insignia, measuring 48 mm (w) x 38 mm (h). The rim of the cap is fully trimmed with thick brown wool piping. Completing the exterior features is a protruding cardboard-reinforced visor, fully lined in identical olive-drab wool. An intact brown leather sweatband surrounds the interior, measuring 28 mm in width. The interior is also fully encompassed by a light olive-drab cotton liner, with the crown bearing a partially-legible black ink maker’s mark of “HEINRICH BALKE MÜTZENFABRIK, BREMEN”, with a size mark of “56”. It measures approximately 205 mm (w) x 270 mm (l) x 135 mm (h). The visor core demonstrates some bending and the sweatband has been severed in two places, but the cap is otherwise free of mothing and fatigue, and is in an overall extremely fine condition.