Hungary Rakoci Era Winter Cap and Cap Badge

[Gordon Craig]

Gentlemen,

Lately a number of 1950s dated Hungarian Military winter hats have been release to the public. None of these caps have hat badges as they were never issued. Luckily for me, while visiting a dealer a couple of days ago, I came a cross a Rakoci cap badge that would go on one of these caps. I had done some research on these caps, via archived pictures etc., and thus was able to recognize it when I saw it.

It is a round badge 26mm in diametre (one inch)with three concentric rings coloured, from the outside in, red, white and green. The colours appear to be painted on and the majority of the red paint is missing. It could have been cold enamel. The three rings surround a bronze, stippled field. In the centre of the field is a star of red (cold) enamel with rays extending out to the edges of the star. In the centre of the star is the Rakoci symbol of a wheat sheeve across a hammer in bronze. I believe the bronze colour of this badge indicates wear by an enlisted man as per Hungarian custom.

This is the only cap badge like this I have seen but I beleive it belongs on the winter hat. I have seen a wedge cap, overseas cap for our American friends, with the same red star device on the front without the surounding material of this badge. I'll post pictures of the cap and the badge in this thread.

The cap has numerous stamps on the interior and unless you know what to look for you would have difficult dating the hat. The date stamps is a rectangle divided into an upper and lower section. The upper section contains the letters "M R". The lower half is divided into two sections as well. The left hand section contains large numerals "24" and in the right hand section is the date "1952". The exterior of the cap is khaki wool while the interior is a lighter shade of brown and is of quilted cotton. The fur front of the cap is held in place by one snap fastener at the top on each side. The side flaps tie together on top.

Regards,

Gordon

[Gordon Craig]

Here are some photos of the cap badge itself. The prongs that are soldered to the back of the badge are made of a very soft metal and bend easily. Despite their pointed ends, one needs to make a whole in the cloth before they can be put into place and folded over.

Edited December 13, 2006 by Gordon Craig

[Gordon Craig]

Now for the cap with the cap badge installed.

[Gordon Craig]

Gentlemen,

I should have mentioned earlier in this thread that the letters MN in the date stamp in the hat stand for "MAGYAR N?PHADDSEREG" - HUNGARIAN PEOPLE?S ARMY. It has been standard Hungarian military practice for some time to use this type of marking. The name of the armed forces changes from time to time and therefore so do the letters in the top half of the rectangle. Therefore, the letters in the top section must be correct for the date appearing in the lower right section of the stamp.

Regards,

Gordon