Waffen SS Elite Officers schirmmütze

[wharfrat57]

I'm not sure about the Erel reproduction? I guess it could be? Not an expert on that one.

[stonemint]

Gents, I have yet to see any repro that was on par with what they were doing during the TR in terms of materials, shape, and craftsmanship.
The ones that copy a name maker (ie, Erel), are light-years removed from what Herr Lubstein was doing back in the day (and he would probably still be spinning in his grave if he had not been kicked out of it by the late Horst Buchholz).

Remember, there is a difference between a fake and a repro--a fake is made to deceive, and is sold as the real thing.
A repro is just that (unless someone tries to sell it as real--then it becomes a fake, as commonly occurs on Ebay all the time)

[Friedrich-Berthold]

An authentic Lubstein SS cap in grey....

[Friedrich-Berthold]

The divergence between the prototype and the epigoni is obvious, I think.

[seandm]

Hi Stonemint, I know what you mean. I am still new with German visors, Helmets are my area but I am trying to learn more about them. Mostly thanks to your threads! I have recently purchased a few repro visors for display and comparison etc and seen big differences in quality and finish. I originally thought the Erel caps would be the best naturally because it was the same wartime manufacturer but as you pointed out and I have read recently they are still nowhere near on par with their TR era counterparts. As I said earlier in the thread, I bought a Janke repro visor and found the quality of that pretty impressive. I suppose at the end of the day no copy will ever be the real thing but for a person like me who can't always afford originals, Good copies are the next best thing. I have found personally and reading that it looks like Jankes caps are the closest in quality and finish to ones produced during the TR era. I was happy enough to say I would buy another Janke cap although they may still be a way off from originals to seasoned experts like yourself. Cheers, Sean.