Original German WWII Army Heer Signals EM/NCO Schirmmütze Visor Cap by EREL – Double Marked Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. This cap is a lovely example of a German WWII Wehrmacht Heer Signals EM/NCO Schirmmütze visor cap, made by the very desirable EREL company. It features soft feldgrau (field gray) “doeskin” wool construction, with a forest green “badge cloth” band and a traditional high forward crown. The crown stiffener has been removed, giving it a lovely “saddle form” crushed shape. It 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 aluminum eagle insignia on the peak and an open silvered aluminum wreath surrounding a tri-color cockade on the band. The cockade still retains the red mesh inlay, and the silvering on the insignia is all in fantastic condition. 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, which shows very little age and has just a bit of finish damage at the very edge. The underside is tan with some light staining, and the visor is still firmly attached to the body of the cap. The brown leather sweatband is in very good condition, with what looks to be fully intact stitching, and it is still quite supple. Size is approximately US 7 1/8 (57cm).

The cap is lined with lovely cream rayon faux silk, and still retains the full celluloid diamond sweat shield in the crown. Under this it still bears the complete EREL trademark logo, with the silver stamping almost completely retained:

EREL
BERLIN
Sonder Klasse
140

The cap also has an embossed stamp over the left ear on the sweatband: „Erel“ Stirnshutz / D.R.G.M. / D.R.P. angem., which refers to the “Forehead Protection” of the sweatband design. The additional abbreviations indicate that it is a trademarked and protected design. This means that the sweatband was never replaced, making this a “double marked” example.

Condition of the cap is very good, with the colors retained very well. There is some wear on the edges of the crown, where the wool has worn through making some holes. There does not appear to be any other major condition issues.

A very nice EREL produced 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, 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.