Intersting black Tuchmütze

**goodbuys** · 11-22-2011, 07:33 AM

This was one of the best threads i have ever read on this forum.The automobile is a great beauty and i can only admire it as such.I am from the outskirts of N.Y.CITY and you better have a bevy of dobermans to guard such a great auto.That you can go to fairs and shows like you have without having some cretin call you a Nazi is also great. We had a show like that many years ago on 26th street in the City and some radio moron came over and started ranting about German stuff and soon they closed it off.I realize that we have the MAX and the SOS show but they are run as such and i would love to go closeby and walk aaround those fairs,etc like you do.The hat portion of this thread is a real great one and i will not comment on Shea as i have been getting some negative reports from some of the older collectors like me on him! Needless to say upgrading SS hats from armies and other pieces has gone on for along time and their are still bad guys doing it I once saw at a show in Allentown,Pa. a postal tunic with SS insignia sewn on it.A horrible piece of junk and you can be rest assured that it was being sold as a 100% real! Thanks to all of you for all you have written as its only here that you have well versed collectors who know what they are talking about.Also you have two of the finest guys in the hobby Bob Hirtz and Bob Coleman from numerous credits in some of our better books as well as their knowledge of the aspects of this fine hobby.Well my index finger is tired and so long.Carl

**Espenlaub Militaria** · 11-22-2011 07:33 AM

We also buy and trade your items and full collections!

**BenVK** · 11-22-2011, 10:55 AM

by DrCMH

Given the recent reduction in price I have gone ahead and purchased this cap. While not free from some suspicions such as the the addition of the velvet band and the like, it does have an appearance that is far from "textbook" and somehow appealing to me. I should have possession of the item within a few days and shall post some more photos.

I congratulate you on a fine choice and look forward to seeing more details.

**Friedrich-Berthold** · 11-22-2011, 10:37 PM

by BenVK

I congratulate you on a fine choice and look forward to seeing more details.

I add my voice of praise for your investment and suggest you also buy the Hayes cap that goes unloved on the paranoia and paranormal site. Shea has some more black hats for sale at no small price, a Mueller Muenchen for an officer that is not really a Sonderanfertigung and not the normal type, either.

**Friedrich-Berthold** · 11-22-2011, 10:50 PM

I just returned from Vienna, where I spend a lot of time, and found this superb book on the German enclave of Iglau in Moravia in which special attention is paid to the Allgemeine SS units that served in Iglau. The work contains many excellent illustrations that show the black uniform in wear during the war, as well as senior Allgem. SS persons wearing the grey uniform in unlikely variations. It is an excellent and fascinating book of great merit, especially for its telling of the Czech and German community of fate in central Europe based on fine research.

The citation of books is generally frowned upon on the other site, unless such titles are comic books.

**DrCMH** · 11-22-2011, 10:57 PM

Thank you Ben and F-B for the positive comments. I am eager to get a close look at this particular piece and to also share a closer inspection with the forum. Ben is correct in searching out something from the period that could expand the collectors knowledge regarding conversion of headgear from an enlisted to officer regulation. I have searched but am no closer now than I was a year ago. Such as it is with this regalia...

F-B is absolutely correct, I should purchase the Hayes cap as opposed to this upgrade but I am a fool and follow emotion more than common sense. A beautiful piece, this cap of Mr. Hayes. Perhaps after the holidays and taxes are paid, I have to build another section of highway before I can make another addition to my collection.

This is the time of year to give thanks and I am thankful for the information and kind advice I receive from those who contribute to this forum so often. My best to you all and your families this season.

Best regards,

CMH

**Friedrich-Berthold** · 11-22-2011, 11:01 PM

Thanks, but I wrote that you should A L S O buy the Hayes cap to keep the Shea cap company, not one in lieu of the other. Also, at the risk of being didactic, you need no contemporary justification for the upgrading of said caps, for such evidence is plentiful. I am quite sure that the two caps I own were fixed at the time, and were done so for reasons of thrift, which is so legion in the past that contemporaries find it odd. Do follow emotion and celebrate the experience. You won't regret it. My best to you for the holiday season and may the years to come reward you with foetid woolens.

**Friedrich-Berthold** · 11-22-2011, 11:02 PM

Foetid and foetid.

**Friedrich-Berthold** · 11-23-2011, 06:09 PM

This catalog also makes clear that persons had their caps fixed in lieu of purchasing new ones. The Kleiderkasse der Lw catalog includes the same service, which was normal also for edged weapons and militaria dealers of the era to fix and maintain their products, i.e. the scabbards of blades had the dents removed and were otherwise repaired for a minor fee.

**Friedrich-Berthold** · 11-23-2011, 06:24 PM

I am just back from Wien, where the remnants of the uniform trade operate in shrunken form, but there is still a tailoring trade that fulfills the needs of society and state. I never have time to find the old tailoring books, since I am too busy doing my job....a fool's errand.

**HPL2008** · 11-23-2011, 09:26 PM

While we're on the subject of Vienna, black cloth and books, allow me to throw in a somewhat off-topic observation. I found an upcoming title announced for April 2012 that sounds like it could be rather interesting:
http://www.amazon.de/Die-Anf%C3%A4ng...2079669&sr=8-1
(I have already pre-ordered my copy.)