Orange piped Heer visor cap

[TWS]

In 1989 my father and I drove out to rural Illinois to pay a visit to John Coy and view his superb headgear collection. Of course I could not come back empty-handed. John considered this cap to be piped in the shade of orange for Fortification Engineer Officers. It is very well worn and soiled and has a ton of character. He'd had it for about 20 years in his collection and was only willing to part with it because he had finally found another in what he considered to be the same shade of orange. However, the cap is in my judgement an issue cap that was period upgraded to officer. It is definitely a contract manufactured "issue grade" cap like an enlisted cap would be. The officer insignia matches the wear and age of the cap perfectly, so I have no doubt it is a period upgrade, but therefore wouldn't make sense for it to be the branch he considered it to be. John knew more about headgear than I ever will and so I'm very happy with the cap and have kept it all these years. Unfortunately both John and my father are no longer with us today, but I will always have this cap as a memento of a very fascinating day with John being a very gracious host and talking us through a good portion of his collection.

[stonemint]

T, great post, great story, great history.
Thanks for sharing it and the story behind it....

[stonemint]

Todd, I meant to ask--did you take any photos of John Coys collection back in the day?

[MAP]

A first for me. Thanks for showing

[TWS]

Todd, I meant to ask--did you take any photos of John Coys collection back in the day?

Unfortunately I did not. I don't think I even brought a camera with me when I went to his house. A good number of his hats were featured in reference books, but of course that meant just a photo or two, not an in-depth photo study. If I had even thought to bring a camera it would have been analog as this was back in the non-digital age.