Article about: by Glenn66 Personally I couldn't care less about the maker. If the cap looks good and more importantly is original then I would be happy to add it to my collection (price permitting of cours
Personally I couldn't care less about the maker. If the cap looks good and more importantly is original then I would be happy to add it to my collection (price permitting of course).
The thread starter is one such gem in my opinion.
For me this has nothing to do with the maker labels/tags per se, unlike the morbid fascination for such in the modern fashion world. The most important thing is as you say that it is an original piece. I am however not into collecting these caps to get things to display in glass cases - I am into collecting such caps for many reasons, but one of the issues most important to me is to be able to study the fine workmanship that they display. And here as F-B have pointed out above there are immense differences between "economy models" and high-end "true" private purchase models. And as such the maker label/tag per se for me is simply a non-important physical consequence of manufacture, its only function is to indicate the cap's origin - nothing more. And given that I had the choice between two caps, both unquestionable good-looking original examples, I would personally choose the cap that was more interesting material-wise, manufacture-wise and so on - regardless of what the label said.
@Koguryo9: Everything is relative as they say and we are just exchanging personal, subjective opinions here. On a general level I just have never been particularly impressed with the Lubstein caps that almost everyone seems to praise into the clouds
As for Welhausen - Chris/stonemint posted a Welhausen cap in this thread here: https://www.warrelics.eu/forum/non-c...ensemble-4484/ - the look on this one is a bit different from the Army caps I have seen (they often have a more pronounced saddle shape), but still unmistakably Welhausen-esque in appearance. I do not want to post photos of my cap yet, because of the fact that I only have the dealer photos stored on my computer and have not gotten the chance yet to take some proper photos of it because I am away from where I keep my caps right now.
I don't want to bash Erel, but I never saw much, if any, difference in the Privat/Extra/Standard grades. I have seen their air-vent system on standards, and have seen it missing on privats. I have a pre-war Standard that is just as heavily padded as any Privat, and the wool quality is just as good. Just a marketing gimmick to me.
I also do not believe that a Privat was private-purchase, ie, custom-ordered/fitted.
Heresy, I know, but on the other hand, the early ones do look good, regardless of class:
“Show me the regulation, and I’ll show you the exception.”
I don't want to bash Erel, but I never saw much, if any, difference in the Privat/Extra/Standard grades. I have seen their air-vent system on standards, and have seen it missing on privats. I have a pre-war Standard that is just as heavily padded as any Privat, and the wool quality is just as good. Just a marketing gimmick to me.
I also do not believe that a Privat was private-purchase, ie, custom-ordered/fitted.
Heresy, I know, but on the other hand, the early ones do look good, regardless of class:
I mentioned blasphemy - you bring up heresy... The early ones sure are attractive caps as the cap in question here testifies to.
I don't want to bash Erel, but I never saw much, if any, difference in the Privat/Extra/Standard grades. I have seen their air-vent system on standards, and have seen it missing on privats. I have a pre-war Standard that is just as heavily padded as any Privat, and the wool quality is just as good. Just a marketing gimmick to me.
I also do not believe that a Privat was private-purchase, ie, custom-ordered/fitted.
Heresy, I know, but on the other hand, the early ones do look good, regardless of class:
They are very attractive and pleasing caps. I have owned them for more than forty or more years, but have never understood the inside baseball thingy with the collector gibberish about same.
I do think each of these firms had a tailor made branch, because such is expressly mentioned in UM, but it is of no account.
My point, which no one seems to register, is the social composition and population of the Wehrmacht officer corps, which had to have headwear and then under declining conditions.
The majority of the readers of especially the other website find these considerations impossibly arcane and odd.
The unworn cap of a young officer killed in action late in the war that appeared in Germany in its shipping box is full of poetry.
Happy hats.
My point, which no one seems to register, is the social composition and population of the Wehrmacht officer corps, which had to have headwear and then under declining conditions.
The majority of the readers of especially the other website find these considerations impossibly arcane and odd.
I can assure you that these considerations weigh heavy in my personal assessment of the historical context of these caps - something else would be utter folly.
I can assure you that these considerations weigh heavy in my personal assessment of the historical context of these caps - something else would be utter folly.
Regards,
Kenneth S-H.
Kenneth, thank you, I know you do. I am generalizing from more than ten years of labor on two other sites than the present one, in which the results were the scenes in the Lord of the Flies. Or Dante's Inferno.
I happen to view the cap as, among other things, a fetish object, but also as a historical source, as a mirror of the time. For various reasons, the social composition of the Wehrmacht (and the SS, of course...) interest me and I know something about it.
The change from the Reichswehr to the Wehrmacht in national socialism is under appreciated on most of these sites, which are seized of the coup counting of owning expensive rare items, as well as the "greatest generation" process with people whom young posters could never have known. I have known and even had professional affiliation with many of these people. I am also deeply interested in the profession of soldiers beyond the re enactor's odd behavior, sorry if I offend someone. With You Tube the texture of life in the 1930s is a lot more tangible than it was beforehand, a fact that accelerates my thoughts about the whole thing. The reality is, of course, that most of the firms that made these things are unknown, unremarked upon, and invisible in these precincts. Because I have spent a fortune buying books on these things recently, I am at pains to give these unknown persons a greater voice and face. It is likely silly, but the effort seems noble to me at least.
Last edited by Friedrich-Berthold; 01-25-2012 at 12:08 AM.
Just as the real estate agents have their mantra "location, location, location", we who aspire to uncover the secrets of the world of Mützen must act as had we the mantra "context, context, context"!
P.S. I also share your interest in the goings-on of the Weimarzeit and the transition from republic to the Third Reich. From Charlemagne to Hitler - that is the scope I relate to when trying to uncover these secrets, in fact.
Just as the real estate agents have their mantra "location, location, location", we who aspire to uncover the secrets of the world of Mützen must act as had we the mantra "context, context, context"!
P.S. I also share your interest in the goings-on of the Weimarzeit and the transition from republic to the Third Reich. From Charlemagne to Hitler - that is the scope I relate to when trying to uncover these secrets, in fact.
What a difference a war makes. The Nebel is the late-late war Erel. Note the smaller crown, lower peak, lesser-grade trikot, lackierte pappschirm, off-center diamond, no stirndruckfrei; and the logo is impressed, but is very faint. The rayon is thin and almost brittle.
“Show me the regulation, and I’ll show you the exception.”
re: Mint Infantry Erel schirmmütze
by Glenn66
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