Original Item: Only One Available. This is a lovely Luftwaffe Officer's Schirmmütze Visor Cap, with great early pattern bullion embroidered insignia. It shows signs of moderate use in service, but no abuse, giving it a fantastic aged look. A wonderful honest example with a fantastic "Crushed" or "saddle-form" shape that is highly desirable, accomplished by removing the crown support stiffener ring. This example was produced by the desirable Ce-Ha Prima brand, which was a name Carl Halfar made high end officer caps under during the war. The cap is roughly size 7 or slightly larger.

This Officer's Schirmmütze Visor Cap is a very high quality manufactured example. Fabricated in Luftwaffe blue gray Fliegerblau (Flier's Blue) "whipcord" weave wool gabardine, with a wide black ribbed wool cap band and three rows of fine silver bullion piping around the circumference. It is fronted by a heavy bullion embroidered Luftwaffe insignia pair that includes a silver bullion Luftwaffe eagle on blue gray wool backing above a high relief silver bullion oak leaf wreath with stylized wings and a woven tri color cockade. The insignia are in very good condition, with the bullion well retained, and showing very little in the way of oxidation. Really a great set of hand embroidered insignia.

The visor on this cap is the standard "vulcanfibre" with a lovely gloss top, which shows a lovely pattern of crazing and checking due to age. It also still has the black patent faux leather trim around the edge retained almost completely, though there is one area that has a small crack through it and probably the visor. The bottom of the visor is checkered green, as we often see on Luftwaffe visor caps. Above the visor is the correct bullion officer's chin strap, retained by pebbled buttons, which is in lovely condition.

The interior is lined with fine cream colored colored rayon faux silk, as usually seen on high end officer caps. This does show staining, and the original diamond shaped celluloid sweat shield is almost fully intact, with complete stitching. There is no size marked, however the maker marking is still fully intact, and reads:-

Verkaufs-Abteilung
Der
Luftwaffe
Berlin SW 68
Puttkamerstr. 16/18
Ce-Ha
Prima

The inside of the cap has a lovely leather sweatband, probably original natural leather, but now showing staining and discoloration from age and use. It is still quite supple, and the stitching is still mostly intact, with the left forehead are showing a the stitching rotted out.

The included wire frame glasses are very nice, and marked AAA1 1/10 12K on the bottom of both temples near the hinges. They definitely look to be WW2 period, and they come with a great set of clip on tinted sun shields, which look lovely.

Overall condition is very good, showing signs of moderate, but no abuse. The bullion piping is still in great shape, showing very little in the way of wear, and no fraying or loss of the metallic threading. The color is still well retained, and there is no real mothing we can see, just wear and staining from age. This is most evident on the top of the crown, and on the very bottom, where it would be in the most contact with sweat and oils from the wearer.

A truly quality Luftwaffe officer in lovely condition with silver bullion embroidered insignia, complete with a great set of period glasses and sun shields. Ready to display!

The German Schirmmütze Visor Cap:
The visor cap (Schirmmütze) was an important part of the headgear worn by German uniformed military, civil, paramilitary and political organizations during the Third Reich. This was the standard cloth headgear worn as a part of the service uniform. Visor caps were worn outdoors as well as indoors, and were often required to be worn by all personnel on duty. Visor caps were made in versions specific to each organization and were often further differentiated through the use of insignia, colored piping, or style of chin cord, to indicate rank, role or branch. The insignia used on these caps ranged from simple stamped metal emblems, to elaborate hand embroidery. Visor caps were issued to enlisted soldiers and NCOs in the military and in some other organizations. Officers had to purchase their own hats, and lower ranks could choose to purchase caps that were of a higher quality than the rather basic, issue examples. The private purchase caps were generally made in very high quality, with fine materials. A wide variety of fabrics were used, from Trikot and doeskin, to heavy wool, or even lightweight white fabric for summer wear. In the military, issue of these caps was generally suspended shortly after the outbreak of the war, but they continued to be worn by some troops until the end of the war.