Original Item: Only One Available. This is a lovely Luftwaffe Officer's Schirmmütze Visor Cap, with great hand embroidered bullion 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 swept back shape. It still has the crown stiffener present, but it has been contoured, giving the cap a bit of that saddle form appearance which we all love.

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 heavily bullion embroidered Luftwaffe insignia pair that includes a silver bullion Luftwaffe eagle on charcoal 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. The gray threads that retain the bullion are in very good shape, and are fully intact.

The visor on this cap is the standard "vulcanfibre" with a lovely gloss top, which shows just a bit of crazing and checking due to age. It also still has the black patent faux leather trim around the edge retained almost completely. The bottom of the visor is green, as we often see on Luftwaffe visor caps. The stitching for the visor is still fully intact, and it is firmly attached to the body of the cap. Above the visor is the correct bullion officer's chin strap, retained by pebbled buttons, which is in fantastic condition.

The interior is lined with fine tan / gold colored rayon, which does show staining, and the original diamond shaped celluloid sweat shield is completely missing, along with the stitching and any markings that were present. The inside of the cap has a very nice brown leather sweatband, which is still in great shape, supple with no cracks or tears. It is possible that it was replaced later in the war after the original was damaged, as the amount of wear on the liner definitely does not match the condition of this sweatband. There is no size marked, but the cap seems to be about a 59cm - US 7 3/8.

Overall condition is very good, showing signs of moderate use and subsequent long storage. The bullion piping is still in great shape, and there is very little damage to the wool body of the cap of any kind.

A truly quality Luftwaffe officer in lovely 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.