M1907/10 Bavarian Infantry Schirmmütze with silk top

[Adler]

Here’s a private purchase M1907/10 Bavarian Infantry Schirmmütze with it's original storage box. It has according the regulations a black chinstrap with one buckle. The strap is attached with two black buttons.
The red band is covered by a camouflageband, which is held in place by two small hooks.
The strange thing about this visor cap is that the top is made of silk, which is not that often encountered.
This makes me think of the so called Reitmütze that was sometimes used by officers, but I’m not sure if NCO’s and enlisted men were allowed to do so.
Maybe someone of the specialists can enlighten me, because I don’t know that much about visor caps…

Adler 1

[NickM]

Most of the photos I have seen of von Richthofen and his men are that they are wearing silk-topped Schirmutzen. Whether it's rare for it to be the same for Bavarians I don't know, but certainly most of JG1 wore them, leading me to say they're not that uncommon.
Owning a repro stock Schirmutz, from Morigi Regalia, they are rigid as a board and impossible for the sides to "flop down" as on yours, so most of the JG1 photos I've seen have them in silk-topped Schirmutzen.

Case in point - silk-topped (left) on MvR, stock (right) on Lothar.

[Adler]

It was indeed rather common amonst Pilots, which are normally Officers. This Schirmmütze is enlisted man... That's a big difference imo...
Then there's also a big difference between a so called "crusher", which is a cap that can be rolled up and put somewhere in a small place. These crushers don't have a silk top but they do have thin plyable leather visors instead of cardboard, reïnforced immitation leather or fiber... The cap I show here is for enlisted men, with reïnforced immitation leather visor (as hard as a skateboard). Not a "crusher"...

Adler

[spandau]

Hi Adler

nice cap !

is the cap band under the masking band red ?

cheers

tony

[spandau]

If it is an infantry cap then the use of materials for the crown was upto the purchaser as all these caps for NCO's and officers were private purchase.
Strictly speaking the other ranks were not allowed to wear them but often did.

They did not become standard issue of kit till 1919.

The kokardes are mixed, other ranks/nco national emblem on the crown and the saxon cockade is the officers version.

Nice and correct chinstrap. The racing silk cap was a common version used pre ww1 for race meetings and competitions when uniform was required to be worn.

The cool looking cap was much favoured by the pilots who of course had all been horsemen pre war. The pilots version would have had a black cap band in velvet.

This one is a very nice private purchase cap with masking band introduced in 1915 helping us identify it as a war time worn cap (maybe). I reckon it may be an officers cap.

hope this helps

cheers

tony

[Adler]

Hi Tony,
Yes the band under the masking band is red.
I think you need some glasses... The Kokarden aren't mixed at all and it's certainly not Saxon (Saxon have green ring, Bavarian have blue ring as this one does). It's a private purchase EM/NCO cap and this means standard EM national Kokarde on top and private purchase EM/NCO state Kokarde at bottom, which is also on this cap.
Have a look at Tony Schnurr's site: http://www.kaisersbunker.com/ht/kokarden.htm
I think that's pretty much the same Kokarde... I hope you see the difference between the officers an private purchase models...

Adler

[spandau]

Hi

Got my glasses on now. Typo on the state cockade ! Blue it is and this of course makes it the private purchase cockade. Got Saxon on the brain today for some reason !

More than happy that it is an NCO's and why not have a silk top ?

Problem with multi tasking when I wrote my initial reply..........always leads to a **** up !

cheers

specky Tony

[SteveR]

Buddy the things that you show sure give me a hard case of the "I wants".
That is a knock out cap.

[Adler]

Thank you very much gentlemen!

Adler