Original Item: Only One Available. This cap is a very nice service used example of a German WWII Wehrmacht Heer Pioneer Officer Schirmmütze visor cap, made by the very desirable Peküro company. This was a well-known maker of WWII visor caps, which continued to exist after the war. It features the typical 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 Schwarz (Black) piping along the top edge and flanking either side of the band. This is the Waffenfarbe (Corps Color) for the Pioniere (Combat engineers), as well as Assault, Armored, Fortress, and Railway engineers. It has the correct silver bullion chin strap, indicating that it is for an officer.

It is decorated with a lovely aluminum bullion embroidered eagle insignia on the peak and an open silvered aluminum bullion embroidered surrounding an embroidered tri-color cockade on the band. The cockade still retains the bright red felt center inlay, and the bullion is in great shape, except for some oxidation on the cockade. 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, as well as a bit of checking and crazing in the gloss black finish. The underside is light tan, and shows moderate staining from use. The brown leather sweatband is in very good condition, still supple with no tears or other major damage, and intact stitching. Size is approximately US 7 1/4 (58cm).

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 Peküro trademark logo, with the silver stamping almost completely retained:

"Stirndruckfrei" translates to "forehead pressure free", indicating that it was designed for for comfort. The name slot in the sweat shield has a piece of paper naming the cap to Pi. Richard HEIL. The "Pi" would be for Pionier, though we do not know exactly what officer rank this refers do. However with a name and branch, that definitely gives this cap some excellent research potential.

Condition of the cap is very good, with the colors retained very well. There is a bit of mothing in areas on the top and under the edges of the crown. There is also some wear through on the black piping, commonly seen on these caps.

A very good service used example of the classic hat worn by German Pioneer Officers in WWII. 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.