Beautifully salty luft overseas cap - my first!

[RustyRelics]

I got my first German piece of soft headgear this morning, and I'm absolutely in love with it.








I cannot photograph just how used and abused this thing is. It's sun faded, it has dirt stains on the outside, and stains on the inside. It has wear from being rubbed and thrown around. It has been denazified by an American who brought it back as a souvenir. Many would consider this a crappy piece, but I love it! As rough as it looks, it was actually kept well, with no smell to it, and the material still soft and pliable. It is a size 57, and has a Luftwaffe stamp that is unfortunately too fuzzy for me to make sense of.

Like I said, pictures don't do this thing justice. I had competition when trying to buy it this morning, so we settled it with a 2/3 attempt at Rock paper scissors. Luckily I won.

[ErWeSa]

First of all I'd like to make it clear that I am no specialist for this kind of cap - but from what I can see this is an artificially aged repro-cap. Shape, fabric, workmanship (particularly how the lining is sewn in), insignia etc. are bad signs for me - hopefully the side-cap specialists will contradict me.

[RustyRelics]

First of all I'd like to make it clear that I am no specialist for this kind of cap - but from what I can see this is an artificially aged repro-cap. Shape, fabric, workmanship (particularly how the lining is sewn in), insignia etc. are bad signs for me - hopefully the side-cap specialists will contradict me.

Uh oh.

[1 RNZIR]

Unfortunately it looks identical to this repro cap except artificially aged...notice the lack of detail especially in the eagle head

[RustyRelics]

Well shid, I'm out of a couple hundred dollars then. And I was so stoked too!

[Aldo]

I will say that my first thought was "artificially aged" and the shape was odd. Unfortunately I have to agree with previous comments.

[RustyRelics]

So for future reference, what exactly is wrong with the piece? To me, it just looks like any other luftwaffe cap, just dirtier.

[Aldo]

You'll find that when an item is intentionally aged it's almost always overdone. This cap looks as though every inch was covered in dirt then scraped with an abrasive to simulate wear. there is nothing natural about the wear. caps will develop wear in the areas that come into contact most with hands, pockets, etc. not every square inch. Even the interior was aged as if it were the outside coming into contact with so much dirt. The cut of the cap is also too square , it does not exhibit the pleasant curve of a Schiffchen. it looks identical to the repro cap posted by 1 RNZIR. the eagle is typical of a repro for reasons stated by others. The lining is completely wrong too. Also on a cap that is "allegedly" so heavily worn the insignia are tightly sewn on with no actual wear, just dirt rubbed on it.

I own about 6 or 7 luft sidecaps all different but none exhibit these characteristics. here is my saltiest of the bunch. Faded and worn not just rubbed in dirt. i hope this helps.

[RustyRelics]

You'll find that when an item is intentionally aged it's almost always overdone. This cap looks as though every inch was covered in dirt then scraped with an abrasive to simulate wear. there is nothing natural about the wear. caps will develop wear in the areas that come into contact most with hands, pockets, etc. not every square inch. Even the interior was aged as if it were the outside coming into contact with so much dirt. The cut of the cap is also too square , it does not exhibit the pleasant curve of a Schiffchen. it looks identical to the repro cap posted by 1 RNZIR. the eagle is typical of a repro for reasons stated by others. The lining is completely wrong too. Also on a cap that is "allegedly" so heavily worn the insignia are tightly sewn on with no actual wear, just dirt rubbed on it.

I own about 6 or 7 luft sidecaps all different but none exhibit these characteristics. here is my saltiest of the bunch. Faded and worn not just rubbed in dirt. i hope this helps.

It does. Thanks. I'm going to drink some beer and listen to break up songs now.

[1 RNZIR]

I understand your disappointment, I have been there more than once. A lack of detail in the bird is the first and most apparent giveaway for me with this one as well as the intentional wear. Use this as a lesson and my best advice to you is study all you can the original examples on shown on this site, invest in reference books and if possible get to military shows to get hands on real examples...the look and smell of genuine items cannot easily be faked. It can take years to easily identify what we call a "one look" genuine example and even then we dont always get it right. Learning never stops. But dont get discouraged...this is a normal part of collecting these awesome things. Good luck in the future!