NVA Officer's Schiffchen

[Nopegineer]

Hello all,

Does anyone know what the markings inside mean (NVA 1856 Y and [32])? Also, any comments about the cap are welcome!

Thanks,
Gordon

[Rik.S]

Hi Gordon, the number 1856 stands for the manufacturer wich in this case is VEB Perfekt Berlin. If I am correct the Y is the code for the year of production and for this schiffchen is 1988. The 32 is a number I don't know the meaning of.

Regards, Rik

[Nopegineer]

Many thanks Rik. If I remember correctly, wasn't VEB Perfekt the successor to the EREL company? Or was it "Emhage" that succeeded it?

[Rik.S]

What I could find was that VEB Perfekt was indeed the successor of Erel, but I also saw the name Robert Lubstein.
Here is a link to a thread I found while on google. But I bet this info is also available on our forum. I will have a try via the search engine.

Veb perfekt - Wehrmacht-Awards.com Militaria Forums

[HPL2008]

What I could find was that VEB Perfekt was indeed the successor of Erel, but I also saw the name Robert Lubstein.

Robert Lubstein and Erel refer to the same company. Erel was the brand name; it's simply how you pronounce the initials for Robert Lubstein in German: "R. L." = "Er El" = "Erel".

[Nopegineer]

Yup, I found the same thread of WAF, but there's still quite a lot of uncertainty around the topic. Perhaps other members of the forum could enlighten us more!

[Blitzvogel]

It's a nice hat, although very common. I think 32 could possibly refer to a factory batch, I really don't know.

Robert Lubstein's company continued after the war in the GDR as Emhage up until 1949 when it was nationalized and became Volkseigener Betrieb (VEB). They continued to make headwear in GDR all the way till the wall came down. Below is a visor cap from the late 50's or early 60's with the Emhage logo.

[Nopegineer]

Thank you Blitzvogel for your reply!