Wool White-Tops

[stonemint]

F-B's comments got me to thinking about how rare original wool white-tops are. I have owned a number of white-tops from different TR organisations, but all were cotton, with minimal linings, if at all. It is obvious that the ones that did exist were private-purchase, and a luxury item, given the limited time frame they could be worn (ie, early spring and early fall) due to their linings, padding and wool bodies.

Wool-white tops are also some of the best-faked, but that is a different thread for a different day.

Here is my personal favorite of all visors, the white top for a Reichsleiter (currently in the Ulric collection):

[stonemint]

Also from the Ulric collection, a LW Officer's:

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A Parteigericht visor from the legendary Paul S collection:

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Here is my favorite uniform pic of the war--Ley wearing his new Form IV Reichsleiter uniform in the summer of 1939:

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Goering wearing an Erel wool white-top:

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Raeder wearing an Erel (I believe this is from the Veteran's Day parade in Kassel in early June, 1939):

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Tough to tell, but I believe Ribbentrop is wearing wool here (he seemed to favor Holters):

[stonemint]

If you have any pics of wool white-tops (not cotton) in wear, please post them here.

In the meantime, I will keep searching my files for other examples.

[stonemint]

The Goldfasanen seemed to have cornered the market on white woolens. This one is for Kreis, and is from the Pascal B. collection:

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Thank you for the nice essay. I suppose the prototype for this kind of cap were those rigid peaked caps of the old armies with a white woolen cap cover, i.e. those Prussian uniforms with a white cap cover likely made from wool. Silk is also an appropriate textile for summer time, as well, and silken peaked caps existed in the old armies, as well. I would think a cap with a silken cap cover to register more elegance than a woolen one. In any case, thanks for this additional material. A final aspect, especially if you live in the US. Southwest, the requirement to be able to clean a cap with a white cover also argues for a textile other than wool, granted how dirty urban Germany was in its day, i.e. coal, soot, diesel, and what not. Even those of us with a vivid memory of the DDR can recall how easily textiles would become schmutzig in such circumstances.

My tone was reproving in the other posts, but such also underscores how really distant much of this inquiry gets from historical reality. Mr. Chris is an acute observer of things, but I also wager that some of what you deem to be Lubstein caps are also likely from the firms of Holters or Stechbarth, pieces that are really rare....and which catered to the Wilhelmstrasse cohort.