Ron, thanks for your tip.
I am aware about these small pieces of cloth between the the cockades. Three of my caps have these small piece of material, but not as on yours red and white. I have only one piece of red :-k and a black piece of material underneath the Prussian cockade.
I also saw several caps without that piece of material which were original as well. As you said during the war there was no time for details, time pressure and often lack of materials was a main problem.
Back to my latest field cap. I do not exclude that the cockades were replaced but the cap body looks very good to me. The fact that the cockades are not brittle and cracked does not indicate that they are not old. It seems that not all cockades must be brittle and cracked. Cockades from my other caps with material underneath do not have any signs of cracks. I think it depends where and in which environment the cap was stored.
The lack of the Mecklemburg cockade could suggest that in the first instance cap was issued to DR18 (B.A.IX) but during war was given to the one of the other Dragoons Regiments, DR6, DR14 or DR19, which has same black colour of the band and piping. I will stay with the conclusion
There are visible moth holes on the one side of the cap and the black band one the other side is dirty from the same "brown stuff".
It is possibility that maybe cockades were replaced but I assume that it is a Dragoner field cap
