This discussion was begun in a different thread by Sandy. However, as it concerns wappen, I am posting my example here. Sandy came up with a Prussian regulation which stated that the OR tschapka wappen should be reinforced. on the reverse with solder. I had never heard of this before but Tony S provided two examples from his collection to support this. Consequently, I decided to take a closer look at some of my Prussian wappen. Here is my example:
My brass example. The tschapka wappen is always smaller and has the crossed breast feather at the top of the tail. There should also be a curve to the wappen as it has to fit the curve of the tschapka shell. A Jaeger tschako wappen will also be smaller but the wappen has less curve and is more vertical in ashape.
The reverse photo clearly shows the application of extra solder to the legs of the tschapka eagle as per the Army Regulation. I have seen soldered wire on other Prussian wappen, usually on private purchase examples but this is rare. If you have been collecting for awhile, you will have seen that the most common missing wappen parts for Prussia are the sceptre, the orb or the orb cross. Some times the small sceptre eagle will still be present but often the entire piece has broken off. Regarding soldered wire on non tschapka wappen, the ones I have seen were soldered on the sceptre. thereby reinforcing it.
My brass example. The tschapka wappen is always smaller and has the crossed breast feather at the top of the tail. There should also be a curve to the wappen as it has to fit the curve of the tschapka shell. A Jaeger tschako wappen will also be smaller but the wappen has less curve and is more vertical in ashape.
The reverse photo clearly shows the application of extra solder to the legs of the tschapka eagle as per the Army Regulation. I have seen soldered wire on other Prussian wappen, usually on private purchase examples but this is rare. If you have been collecting for awhile, you will have seen that the most common missing wappen parts for Prussia are the sceptre, the orb or the orb cross. Some times the small sceptre eagle will still be present but often the entire piece has broken off. Regarding soldered wire on non tschapka wappen, the ones I have seen were soldered on the sceptre. thereby reinforcing it.
