Original Item: Only One available. This is a very nice service worn summer weight German WWII SA "Stormtrooper" Kepi (Dienstmütze), often called a "Coffee Can Hat." It is made of a khaki canvas fabric over pressed paper/fiber sides, with a Rosa (pink) top and gold "pip" button on the front. This indicates use by the SA Gruppe Ostmark (East March), which was on the far East side of Germany, centered around the city of Posen, today Poznań in Poland.

Before 1939, to help differentiate the different SA groups, the top of these caps, as well as the collar tabs, were issued in a variety of colors. Additionally, the "button" or "pip" on the front of the cap could be silver or gold, which matched the color of the uniform buttons, which allowed colors to be used more than once. Even though faded, the top band of this cap is definitely pink, now faded over the years. It is a bit darker closer to the eagle and rivets, where it was more protected.

These caps were worn by SA personnel, especially the "Stormtrooper" groups. It is made from heavy tan canvas, with a wartime pattern SA Reichsadler (National Eagle) on the front top. There is a nice aged faux leather chinstrap, held in place by the correct finished buttons. The interior has cardstock sides, with light weight almost see through fabric on the crown, and a thin oil cloth faux leather sweatband.

Condition is very good, with the shape very well retained, and the front brim is free from cracks, bends, or other damage. The top rim of the kepi has however had the steel stiffener ring oxidize, and the fabric over it has degraded and partly torn through around the entire circumference. The kepi definitely had had the fabric fade over time, giving it a fantastic "salty" look.

A hard to find SA Stormtrooper Kepi, ready to display!

Sturmabteilung, literally Storm Detachment, was the NSDAP Party's original paramilitary. It played a significant role in Adolf AH's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s. Its primary purposes were providing protection for NSDAP rallies and assemblies, disrupting the meetings of opposing parties, fighting against the paramilitary units of the opposing parties, especially the Red Front Fighters League (Rotfrontkämpferbund) of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD), and intimidating Romani, trade unionists, and, especially, Jews – for instance, during the NSDAP boycott of Jewish businesses.

The SA were also called the "Brownshirts" (Braunhemden) from the color of their uniform shirts, similar to Benito Mussolini's blackshirts. The SA developed pseudo-military titles for its members, with ranks that were later adopted by several other NSDAP Party groups, chief amongst them the Schutzstaffel (SS), which originated as a branch of the SA before being separated. Brown-colored shirts were chosen as the SA uniform because a large number of them were cheaply available after World War I, having originally been ordered during the war for colonial troops posted to Germany's former African colonies.

The SA became disempowered after Adolf AH ordered the "blood purge" of 1934. This event became known as the Night of the Long Knives (die Nacht der langen Messer). The SA continued to exist, but was effectively superseded by the SS, although it was not formally dissolved until after NSDAP Germany's final capitulation to the Allies in 1945.