TR Soft Headgear Collecting of Yesteryear

**stonemint** · 01-27-2016, 05:04 AM

by avenger

Why is it every time I enter into one of these SS regalia threads, I feel like a child overhearing an adult conversation? You long in the tooth collectors have the task of not merely preserving the relics, but preserving the truth, and I always leave these threads with the impression of just how daunting that task is. It makes me almost glad I lack the finances to engage in this part of the hobby.

I hear you, but (and w/o sounding like the old man I am becoming), think about how it was back in the late 70s/early 80s as a teenager with a passion for this stuff.
There was only 1 book on visor hats, and it was in French. There was no internet, and I literally did not know anyone in my high school/college who shared my interest. I had no mentor when it came to collecting--it was all learned on my own, by trial and error (emphasis on the error).

Most dealers at the shows back then (I call them the "old salts") wanted nothing more than to separate the $ from a sucker kid, and did not want to bother with helping to teach me how to tell the fakes from the real thing. (Their advice was "buy the books"--however, there were none).

The way I created my "reference" on visors was by using a 110 instamatic camera (1/2 the time they came out blurry and over-exposed), and taping the photos to legal pads, with my notes on what I thought was wrong (or right) with the hat I photographed.

With regard to auctions, you were lucky if there was a picture of the hat you were interested interested in, and even if there was one, it was smaller than a thumbnail, and was in black and white (forget interior pnotos). The items were often misdescribed (especially with regard to condition), & relatively speaking, prices were not cheap, especially when going to school full time and working part time.

The best thing to ever happen to the hobby was the invention of the internet, and the creation of this Forum--you get 100s of years of experience literally for free (and we made the mistakes that you do not have to). It is so much easier than it was even 15 years ago--look how quickly the "Koch" visor was neutered on this forum.

**Espenlaub Militaria** · 01-27-2016 05:04 AM

We also buy and trade your items and full collections!

**Friedrich-Berthold** · 01-27-2016, 05:33 AM

TR Soft Headgear Collecting of Yesteryear

Here is what Mr. Mint is describing from the year 1978.

- - ------- - -

And this was a high level of transparency for an item. I got the two black peaked caps, one of which I retain today.

**avenger** · 01-27-2016, 05:35 AM

All excellent points Stonemint, and points taken. What you describe sounds like the wild west.

Do you believe the fakes were as good back then as they are today? Honestly, when I hear folks like you and FB who have dedicated much of your lives to the study of these pieces, express genuine surprise over how close reproductions have gotten, that's enough to give a person pause for sure. And, there is probably something to be said for holding a real piece in hand that a person can't get over the internet. Seems like it's possible the internet has also been an equally good reference for the fakers, and judging by some of the recent comments, the evidence appears to support that at least in some cases.

It may have been you or FB who mentioned a lot of long time collections are being liquidated these days from people who have passed away, and now some of those really close fakes are entering circulation for the first time in ages. That made a lot of sense to me. Mind you, I don't want to purport to express a "woe is us" kind of tone to any of this, I don't feel that way about SS collecting. It's more of a cautious timidity I'm feeling when I read these threads, like a dear always weary of a hunter.

**avenger** · 01-27-2016, 05:41 AM

by Friedrich-Berthold

Here is what Mr. Mint is describing from the year 1978.

- - ------- - -

And this was a high level of transparency for an item. I got the two black peaked caps, one of which I retain today.

Now that puts things into perspective. Thanks for sharing.

**Friedrich-Berthold** · 01-27-2016, 05:58 AM

by avenger

Now that puts things into perspective. Thanks for sharing.

This example was of a very high level of inquiry. I have older Manion's lists, which I should copy and and include for you.

The level of detail and analysis was rather primitive, to say the least.

Nazi stuff was faked before 1933, do you know...before the Nazis came to power.

It has been faked for decades and more, and we are all here, laboring away in our odd vineyards of apocalypse.

I find it as interesting as I did when I was six years old, actually.

**Friedrich-Berthold** · 01-27-2016, 06:00 AM

"Seems like it's possible the internet has also been an equally good reference for the fakers, and judging by some of the recent comments, the evidence appears to support that at least in some cases."

The thing is challenge and response. It is a dialectic.

**Friedrich-Berthold** · 01-27-2016, 06:05 AM

If you cannot grapple with this level of complexity, and the double think, then you are bound to be unhappy.

I tell people this all the time, and they get very angry with me, but I always wanted to know the truth at an early age.

I came to consciousness in a problematic time.