Intersting black Tuchmütze

[BenVK]

Mr Shea has this most interesting hat for sale at the moment.
HG-45* Allgemeine-SS Visor Cap

Every now and again an example such as this pops up and I always wonder how can anyone determine with assurance when the alterations were actualy done?

Has anyone found documentation that might cast some light on such occurrences? Prehaps a letter mentioning such or a bill of sale for the modifications? As Mr. Shea states in his description, this is "absolutely “period added” and a fairly common practice for SS personnel who could not afford to simply discard their “issue headgear when they attained officer."

I don't doubt for a second that the practice of upgrading a cap did happen but common practice? and I do wonder how anyone can be so certain when looking at individual hats these days. I would take me 20 minutes to sew such a band onto a cap and I could claim the same if I wished. Cynical I know but that's the reality.

Prehaps friends of Mr Shea could ask politely for more information? I doubt very much that he would entertain enquires from myself.

[BenVK]

As an aside, Hersteller 1037 is?

[d'alquen]

1037: Peter Kuepper of Wuppertal

[davejb]

Although i am fascinated by these SS caps because of the sheer manufacture and elegance involved , i am by no means purporting to have a reasonable standard of knowledge regarding them, however in the case of "upgrading", what is the purpose of adding a velvet band, an officer status cap would i suspect only require the officers cap cords and silver buttons , is this type of upgrade an RZM requirement or just an elitist fashion trait on behalf of the person involved, the difficulties i can see is the risk of removing the insignia and damaging the pins by replacing them over the new band, therefore i wonder if this was a common practise, i may be showing complete ignorance here but i would like to know, regards Dave

[Friedrich-Berthold]

I own the other two of these amended caps that came from Shea, in fact. They both strike me as done at the time, but who really knows. Shea has a thing about these, and the Wilkins book makes a big deal out of it.
The cap on the left came with a whole uniform which is quite real, and, in fact, a VA issued uniform for an officer in the Sudetenland. The cap is in the Wilkins book and the uniform in another Schiffer book for what little it is worth. The other cap on the right is in the Shea Beaver book. The cap badges are also very nice on each of these caps, but you are right, who knows with any of this junk. I did not buy the cap that has long sat on the Shea site because for the same price I have bought nicer and more rare caps.

There is ample contemporary evidence of the poverty of the era, to include the difficulty to equip people with uniforms. In fact, there is a ton of discussion of this in sources of the time, especially in UM, actually, but also in works on the SA and NSDAP. Ergo, it makes perfect sense to me that someone just dolled up their cap rather than spending RM 7 or whatever. Further, clothing today is so cheap and so plentiful that one forgets what scarcity was like in the 1930s, or one is rediscovering it in such places as Greece and Spain, as well as my native country.

Also, the objects I illustrate cost a fraction of the price Shea demands at the moment for said cap.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

NSDAP caps also frequently had a velvet band added by a hat maker, as you know....

[Friedrich-Berthold]

This source describes in detail the problems with poverty and uniforms in the NSDAP and much more.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

A book of this kind is a useful adjunct in the foetid woolen game.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

The addition of the Gehirnbremse and the velvet band was to comply with the dress regulations of the SS, not that of the RZM. The RZM did not establish what members of the NSDAP and its branches wore as uniform, but they regulated the raw materials and contractors of same...

[davejb]

Thanks FB, very precise and now an obvious reason for the inclusion of the band, feel a bit stupid now i think about it, but thanks anyway,
regards Dave