Original Item: Only One Available. This is an excellent condition Luftwaffe Officer’s Schirmmütze Visor Cap, showing very little sign of use. It is not maker marked, except for DEUSTCHE QUALITÄTSARBEIT (Quality German Work) under an eagle on the interior. It still has the original crown stiffener installed, so the sides have not sunken down much over the years, giving it a great gently swept back look.
This Officer’s Schirmmütze Visor Cap is a very high quality manufactured example. Fabricated in Luftwaffe blue gray Fliegerblau (Flier’s Blue) wool gabardine, with wide black ribbed wool cap band, plus 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 a wool backing above a high relief silver bullion oak leaf wreath with stylized wings and a woven tri color cockade. The insignia are in great shape, except for just a little bit of oxidation and pulling.
The visor on this cap is the standard “vulcanfibre” with a gloss top, which shows a lovely pattern of checking and crazing due to age. It also still has the black patent faux leather stitched around the edge retained almost completely, with just one area of wear through. Above this is the correct bullion officer’s chin strap, retained by pebbled buttons. The interior is lined with fine cream colored rayon, and has a tan finished pressed paper faux leather sweatband, which is now quite stiff, but shows only minor damag due to age. It shows very little to no signs of wear in service. The celluloid diamond crown sweat shield at the top is fully present with intact stitching, with the previously mentioned logo and a size of 57 marked.
Overall condition is excellent, showing very little sign of use. This is honestly one of the best Luftwaffe offficer’s visor caps that we have ever had, and it would be extremely difficult to improve upon.
A truly quality Luftwaffe officer in excellent condition with silver bullion embroidered insignia. 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.