SS visor hat-early insignia,late hat

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Anyone who reads the RZM circulars and such knows that the SS was highly fussy about the retail of its thingies, and it is also possible that said person either could not get the insignia, or chose other insignia as a matter of preference. The facts of the difficulty and respective rarity of SS material even in the moment are richly documented in the primary sources. In any case, to each his own in this and all matters.
If you want only a conventional cap, then wait for one.
However, this piece is very well preserved, which is often not the case with others.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

fiddled or not fiddled, that is the question.....?

[BOB COLEMAN]

A period photograph of Rottenfuhrer Wilfred Kunstmann of Nurnburg wearing a field cap with identical 4th and final pattern political adler and Danziger totenkopf. This would be a late war picture as Kunstmann was a member of Handschar. Such anomolies did exist and only the original owner can explain why.

[FALLSCHIRMJAGER]

I'm most pleased to see the original cap posted is a well known and loved example,i am no expert on these as i said so i "hold my hands up" to being suspicious about just how good this one looked!! A real beauty that i'm sure you SS guys will know and value for many years to come. Leon.

[backtothefront]

Greetings.
Thanks to all for your contributions and suggestions. I sincerely appreciate the time that members offer to assist each other on this forum.
Of course the condition and quality of the hat makes it ideal for any collection. I am also rather enjoying the engimatic story of possibilities that presents along with it. It seems to represent its type very well but also many of the conundrums that makes collecting such items all the more interesting. If I only ever have one such hat, then this shall be it.
Regards. Paul

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Greetings.
Thanks to all for your contributions and suggestions. I sincerely appreciate the time that members offer to assist each other on this forum.
Of course the condition and quality of the hat makes it ideal for any collection. I am also rather enjoying the engimatic story of possibilities that presents along with it. It seems to represent its type very well but also many of the conundrums that makes collecting such items all the more interesting. If I only ever have one such hat, then this shall be it.
Regards. Paul

You can always collect the "textbook" item, which is dictated to you by a poorly informed clique of mentally limited persons, for whom the reality of the past is always too great and for whom any variation represents some deep trespass against their clubby, chattery, little fairy tales. They are the wardens of "check lists," as well as their odd, twisted argot which somehow is to remove the imponderable and unknowable from something that defies all check lists and silly baby talk tweeting about military headwear.

Of course there were regulation items, which were then amended, and one kept the old item along with the new item for reasons of thrift. Nazi Germany and the SS expanded greatly just as this cap was made, and I can imagine in Austria or the Protectorate, the person could not get the right badges, or whatever.

The SS circulars are full of the above contradictions, which is just as compelling as any idiotic fantasies about "textbooks" and whatever.

The society for the study of uniforms in the era held lectures on military fashion, and the tendency of soldiers to violate regulations for various reasons.

The adherents of "textbooks," of course, cannot read German regulations, and themselves live faceless and odorless lives in the 21st century in which their standardized, rationalized, and sterile existence cannot embrace the fact that central Europeans subjected to too many rules made a past time of breaking them, despite the apparent emphasis on formal discipline. I am married to such a person, in fact, but she was a product of the CSSR in the 1970s and 1980s, but no less a nemesis of "textbooks" in things great and small.

[BOB COLEMAN]

Don't hold back FB!! I agree with you regarding the Internet "textbook" term. These items were owned by real people who altered them without any regards to them having great value in the 21st Century. They also did so without any concern for future collectors.
Another example of non regulation insignia. A gray officer cap with Heer eagle. This modification is found more often than the previous oddity.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Don't hold back FB!! I agree with you regarding the Internet "textbook" term. These items were owned by real people who altered them without any regards to them having great value in the 21st Century. They also did so without any concern for future collectors.
Another example of non regulation insignia. A gray officer cap with Heer eagle. This modification is found more often than the previous oddity.

Bravo. I know the original owner of this cap now in Bob's hands, and it is a marvelous piece. I looked at it and it is not an army Kleiderkasse cap, either.

[FALLSCHIRMJAGER]

I do not own that many books, i use my eyes and try to learn from my "elders!!" That said i still screw up far to often,although not as much as i did twenty years ago,when such great collaborations of knowledge such as this forum were not available.At that time my nearest "fellow" collector who i could exchange opinions with was 30 miles away! Leon.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Here is one like Bob's but with conventional insignia. As Bob knows, I am prone to strong opinions.