NVA and Border Guards caps: Please give opinions.

[Jonathan Wenberg]

Hi Astrath,

I have been collecting these visor caps for a few years now and I can tell you without a doubt that every cap which you have posted is unequivocally real. The important thing to remember is that later issue DDR officer, NCO and soldier caps (excluding general, admiral and early era caps from the 1950s and 1960s which had a variet of production differences and are more sought after) are far to common to fake WELL. That is not to say that they are not being faked, but the fakes are very bad quality. Here is an example:



This is a fake Grenztruppen officer cap that was for sale on ebay a couple of months ago and is also sold at places like Checkpoint Charlie (the primary market for these things). If you compare it to a real cap, you will notice a myriad of differences which makes for a very poor fake. The material is wrong and highly synthetic, there is a grommet at the peak of the cap, the leather sweatband is the wrong colour and the interior of the hat is the wrong colour, the sweat diamond has no size, 4 digit factory code (e.g. the most common '1856' for Berlin) or date code (from 1968 onwards a single letter, for example 'L')

No fake has ever encompassed any of these factors well, because the cost and knowledge involved is prohibitive for fakers. In the DDR field, what you should be more wary of is wrong combinations and put together hats, which are made of real pieces but never existed at the time.

Cheers,

Jonathan

[Astrath]

Hi Astrath,

I have been collecting these visor caps for a few years now and I can tell you without a doubt that every cap which you have posted is unequivocally real. The important thing to remember is that later issue DDR officer, NCO and soldier caps (excluding general, admiral and early era caps from the 1950s and 1960s which had a variet of production differences and are more sought after) are far to common to fake WELL. That is not to say that they are not being faked, but the fakes are very bad quality. Here is an example:



This is a fake Grenztruppen officer cap that was for sale on ebay a couple of months ago and is also sold at places like Checkpoint Charlie (the primary market for these things). If you compare it to a real cap, you will notice a myriad of differences which makes for a very poor fake. The material is wrong and highly synthetic, there is a grommet at the peak of the cap, the leather sweatband is the wrong colour and the interior of the hat is the wrong colour, the sweat diamond has no size, 4 digit factory code (e.g. the most common '1856' for Berlin) or date code (from 1968 onwards a single letter, for example 'L')

No fake has ever encompassed any of these factors well, because the cost and knowledge involved is prohibitive for fakers. In the DDR field, what you should be more wary of is wrong combinations and put together hats, which are made of real pieces but never existed at the time.

Cheers,

Jonathan

Thank you, Sir. Jonathan.
Thank you for your feedback and contributions on this forum, it is always good study on this topic.
These really are false, bad examples of caps.
Thank you so much.

[Larboard]

I do not know what to think, everywhere where eye see these caps being sold as originals, there is a code of respect for the dates, I'm trying to look at various forums and research on the internet, according to Sir. Stonemint, they have been or are being forged from Germany, but do not know if these cheap caps are also false, saw some differences in caps shown in FAKE DDR forum but ér difficult because there just are examples of caps of generals or officers.
I do not know how long can exist counterfeiting of these items but need to find out about it, for I am in my geopolitical classes and my students rave to enconstar in a probable cap that was in the last days before the fall of the Berlin Wall, only I do not want to deceive them, which I found strange was stamped MADE IN EAST GERMANY, especially being a stamp in English, but I saw on some sites they also have caps with this marking.
I confess that discouraged from time to collect as everything seems to be false, I'd better stop buying for a while, until I actually saib what I am buying.
Thank you so much

4 pages later, and we're still at this ^ point?

They're common post war German caps, they're on eBay all day, everyday for a $9.99 opening bid... and not many people jumping up to get one, so why would anybody fake them?

Edit, got to page 5, I sit corrected, there are fakes. They look horrid. My guess is, human nature being what it is (devolution of the species) they might sell better and for more money than the real ones...

Your caps are still real.

[Jonathan Wenberg]

@Astrath No problem, glad to have helped

[James C]

Look at this, it seems a Chinese cap modified.

As New East German DDR Green Dress Cap Visor hat with Badge - Surplus and Outdoors

Hello Roberto ,ive just clicked the link ,the cap is not a chinese copy ,even though DDR i would assume the inner liner would bear the marks mdl (military police )so not nva issue

[Astrath]

Hello Roberto ,ive just clicked the link ,the cap is not a chinese copy ,even though DDR i would assume the inner liner would bear the marks mdl (military police )so not nva issue

Olá Sir. James, eu coloquei o link errado, me desculpe, era um link que encontrei no WAF e que mostrava os quepes falsos comparando com os quepes chineses.
Atenciosamente, Cristiano Niero Astrath

Translation hehehehehe

Hello Sir. James, I put the wrong link, I'm sorry, it was a link I found on the WAF and showing false caps compared to the Chinese caps.
Sincerely, Cristiano Niero Astrath

[Jan Klaassen]

Look, 1.000.000 visor caps.... Autentic?????????????
Gowen Militaria: Border Guard Career Senior NCO Visor Hat, With Officer Cockade

Yes, all authentic, as are 99,99% of all NVA/DDR-caps. The one you've posted above, from the 'Chinese' seller - just an authentic cap with non-DDR cap cords, nothing shocking. There is no large-scale reproduction of East German caps of 80's vintage, period.