RoyalScotsVols
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The police in West Berlin showed their revised uniform in the Olympic Stadium on 30 September 1951. A black shako was now worn with the shako star plate and national cockade. The plate featured the Berlin coat of arms which was introduced in 1934 with the so-called 'wall crown'and rounded bottom to the shield. Incidently this pattern remained as the city coat of arms for East Berlin until October 1990. This shako plate was virtually identical to that earlier worn with the older green shakos from October 1945 to Spring 1947. This coat of arms pattern is shown below:
The constitution of the western part of the city dated October 1950 stipulates that the Berlin insignia shows the coat of arms with bear and the cockade in white and red. The creation of a new coat of arms was considered necessary because it was intended to express that 'Berlin is a German state and at the same time a city' as stipulated in Article 1 of the constitution. However, it took until 1954, after amendments and agreement among all the parties involved, that the revised emblems of Berlin were agreed. The new coat of arms was based upon a design by Ottfried Neubecker from 1952 featuring 'a silver (white) shield with an upright black bear with a red tongue and red claws. Above the shield rests a golden five petaled crown whose masonry headband includes a gate in the centre'. This new coat of arms introduced from 1954 is shown below:
Radecke notes that this is the reason for the change to the previous coat of arms on the police shako plates with the new pattern being in use until the shako was abolished. He notes that some collectors consider that the different crown patterns in the emblem were connected with the construction of the Berlin Wall (worn before or after) which he considers to be untrue as by the time the wall was built starting in August 1961 the change in pattern had already been made.
The constitution of the western part of the city dated October 1950 stipulates that the Berlin insignia shows the coat of arms with bear and the cockade in white and red. The creation of a new coat of arms was considered necessary because it was intended to express that 'Berlin is a German state and at the same time a city' as stipulated in Article 1 of the constitution. However, it took until 1954, after amendments and agreement among all the parties involved, that the revised emblems of Berlin were agreed. The new coat of arms was based upon a design by Ottfried Neubecker from 1952 featuring 'a silver (white) shield with an upright black bear with a red tongue and red claws. Above the shield rests a golden five petaled crown whose masonry headband includes a gate in the centre'. This new coat of arms introduced from 1954 is shown below:
Radecke notes that this is the reason for the change to the previous coat of arms on the police shako plates with the new pattern being in use until the shako was abolished. He notes that some collectors consider that the different crown patterns in the emblem were connected with the construction of the Berlin Wall (worn before or after) which he considers to be untrue as by the time the wall was built starting in August 1961 the change in pattern had already been made.
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