Original German WWII Army Heer Signals EM & NCO Doeskin Wool Schirmmütze Visor Cap Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. This cap is a very nice service worn example of a German WWII Wehrmacht Heer Army EM / NCO Schirmmütze (visor cap). It features beautiful soft feldgrau (field gray) “doeskin” wool construction, with a forest green band and a traditional high forward crown. The cap also has matching Zitronengelb (lemon-yellow) piping along the top edge and flanking either side of the band, the Corps Color (Waffenfarbe) used by the Heer Army Signal corps, responsible for setting up and maintaining communication equipment.

It is decorated with a well detailed zinc eagle insignia on the peak and an open silvered zinc wreath surrounding a metal tri-color cockade on the band, which has a red felt insert. The silvering on the insignia has degraded somewhat, and they now have a dull gray patina.. The dual-buckled black leather chinstrap, designating the wearer to be an enlisted man, is attached to black lacquered buttons on either side. The vulcanfibre visor has a smooth black leather-look upper, exhibiting wear along the edge and is brown with cross-hatching on the underside. It is still attached firmly to the cap, so the stitching has not degraded as we often see.

The inside of the cap is lined with a lovely golden colored rayon faux silk fabric on the top and sides. The top celluloid diamond sweat shield is unfortunately completely missing, with only the stitching remaining, and there is definitely staining and light soling on the lining. There are no markings that we can make out anywhere on the interior. The sweatband is pressed paper faux leather, and is only about 50% complete now, with the rest torn away long ago.

Overall exterior condition is still very good, with a lovely look to the rare doeskin wool shell, showing very little wear, and no moth damage that we can see. The main condition issue is the sweatband, which does not really affect the displayability at all.

A very nice example of the classic hat worn by a German Army Signals NCOs in WWII. 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, issued 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.