Allgemeine-SS EM/NCO Schirmütze: FAKE !

[stonemint]

F-B: pics are the best I got. I agree, I like the Erel, but I cannot wrap my arms around the early one--something looks played with on the left side of the body of the cap, and the skull appears to be a repro. (I am no skull expert, and failed scull scool) The band wool bothers me too.

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I was going to post this one, but I thought the officers chincord would cause "the masses" to give it a thumbs down. It is another Erel--who knows when the cord was added:

[Friedrich-Berthold]

The very first cap has been damaged and fixed. The 3d cap is also authentic, but with likely bum badges. I think the 3d cap is an enlisted one with the officer's cord, but the RFSS tag does not correspond to the RZM tag, However, I think in cap two and three the tags are real. Were I able to examine all the caps in hand, I could give a real answer. The 1st cap is an early one, of the 1934-1935 species, and I think it is real as far as these images go. The waterproof lining has had the impregnated bit washed out, but it seems otherwise alright. I am not sure of the tag, but it fits the cap. I leave the badges to others. I am not at home with Assmann badges. Many, many of these were found twenty years ago in the CSSR in Barandov and rattle around. In any case, that is my assessment based on your images.

Enlisted caps surely had the officer's cord added, as well as having the velvet band added. I own two of these, both of which are in Schiffer books.

As I say, it is hard to see everything with mediocre pictures.

I do not think these caps are the more recent high quality fake, since there are many persuasive authentic features here.

It is also true that the RZM tags are greatly improved by the fakers, but not that great.


Happy hats.

[M18922]

I think the first cap was original, but I had some doubt as the skull was not that inviting. But then again it seems that replacing skulls is all the rage. The other ones seemed original to me.

Cheers, Patrick

[Friedrich-Berthold]

These guesses made about indistinct pictures comprise a fool's errand in most cases. The only way to judge a cap is through clear pictures and the cap itself in hand. The rest is sort of a waste of time. No final assessment is possible, and the first cap is an example of an ambiguous item, which I think is heavily used and shows such wear.

Here are clear images of a Sonderanfertigung cap.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Riddles in enigmas......and if you can only look at these dumbo pictures, then you will eventually become insane. It is the tiny minority who can scratch, sniff, feel and roll around in foetid woolens like cat nip, and such is inherently unfair and makes these show and tell spasms into the irritating thing they are.

I wrote cap nip for cat nip, which shows you that the foetid woolen thing has gotten to me, but I do feel badly that many can never really examine these things and press their noses against a cruel screen from afar.

[Bochmann]

Have to say that I like this cap (although I wish that I didn't) and I can easily see that this and some of the others that you have posted will doubtless cause some grief to some poor collector, now, and in the future as there seems to be a fair amount of workmanship present in some of these.

[stonemint]

Yes, most of the ones I am posting here are higher-end fakes, unlike the common Janke, Latvian, & Altestes. You simply have to keep studying them and comparing them with the originals F-B has liberally posted throughout the forum. Not easy work, I know.

[DrCMH]

Another A-SS NCO that just popped up on the other forum:

The textiles in this cap leave me uneasy as does that workmanship. There are some on the other forum who liked it but... Oh! That RZM tag is a stinker.

[Adrian Stevenson]

I would concur with the good Dr.

Cheers, Ade.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Such caps were indeed made of this textile. I own two of them. The VA stamp is a joke, though.