Original Item: Only One available. This is a very nice condition Luftwaffe Civil Fire Brigade NCO’s Schirmmütze (Visor Cap), which is dated 1941 and size marked 57. The celluloid diamond sweat shield inside the crown of the cap is fully intact, with the makers markings underneath. These are somewhat faded due to the silver paint flaking, but we can still read them:
CARL HALFAR
UNIFORM-MÜTZENFABRIK
BERLIN. 20
Prinzenallee 74
= 57 =
Lieferjahr 1941
“Lieferjahr” translates to “Delivery Year”, so that is when the cap was slated to be delivered to the luftwaffe. This wartime NCO Visor Cap is a high quality example, and is identical to the standard Feuerschutzpolizei (Fire Protection Police) visor cap in construction, with different insignia. It is fabricated from deep navy blue doeskin wool, with a black velvet centerband and Feuerschutzpolizei carmine red wool truppenfarbe, (Corps Color).
The peak visor cap retains an excellent aluminum Luftwaffe insignia on the top, while the cap band has an aluminum “winged” swas inside a wreath, the civil employee “Wings”. The black leather NCO chinstrap and buttons are still present and in very good condition, showing some age crazing in the finish. The visor is a classic vulcanfibre construction example, gloss pattern with very little age at all. It is light brown on the underside, and the stitching is partly intact.
The cap is lined with light brown “service cloth” type canvas on the sides and on the top. The sweat shield is fully retained, however the sweatband liner is almost completely missing, with just a bit of leather left on the left side. The stitching has also popped out due to this, so the visor is only loosely attached to the body of the cap. The exterior of the cap is in very good shape, with no real staining or fading, showing just a bit of mothing in areas.
We have only seen a few of these available, so this is a great chance to add a very colorful cap to your collection. 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.