Original Item: Only One Available. This cap is a an excellent example of a German WWII Wehrmacht Sanitätstruppe (Military Medical Service) Officer Schirmmütze visor cap, made by Robert Lubstein under their very desirable EREL brand, a top class maker of headwear during the war. The cap has a lovely "Crushed" or "saddle-form" shape that is highly desirable, accomplished by removing the crown support stiffener ring. It features the typical feldgrau (field gray) "doe skin" weave wool construction, very popular with officers, with a flaschengrün (dark bottle-green) "badge cloth" band and a traditional high forward crown. The cap also has matching Medizinisch-blau (Dark Medical Blue) piping along the top edge and flanking either side of the band, the Corps Color (Waffenfarbe) for the Wehrmacht Sanitätstruppe (Medical Service). It has the correct silver bullion chin strap, indicating that it is for an officer.

It is decorated with a high end hand embroidered silver bullion eagle insignia on the peak and and an open silver bullion embroidered wreath surrounding a painted zinc metal tri-color cockade on the band. The chin strap is attached with the standard silvered buttons on either side of the cap. The vulcanfibre visor has a smooth black leather-look upper, exhibiting light wear along the edge and is tan on the underside, showing some wear through the finish.

The cap is lined with lovely cream colored rayon faux silk, and shows a mostly intact diamond-shaped celluloid sweat shield on the top. Underneath it shows a clear Erel trademark logo in silver:

The cap also has an embossed maker marking on the left side of the sweatband that reads: „Erel“ Stirnshutz / D.R.G.M. / D.R.P. angem., which refers to the "Forehead Protection" of the sweatband design. This means that the sweatband was never replaced, making this a "double marked" example. However, the leather sweatband is definitely worn, and the stitching / fabric attaching it to the body of the cap has rotted or pulled out on about 75% of the circumference. Size seems to be approximately 57-58cm.

Exterior condition of the cap is excellent, and looks to be virtually unissued. There is no moth damage we can see, and all of the colors are still vibrant. There is light overall wear on the exterior.

A lovely example of the classic hat worn by German Wehrmacht Medical Officers in WWII, made by the legendary Erel Company!. Very impressive and 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.