Luftwaffe Visor Hat genuine or fake

**stig58** · 05-24-2021, 02:29 AM

Tropical Luftwaffe officers hat by “Erel Sonder Klasse” looks genuine the wear looks natural and the Luftwaffe bullion patch looks good as I have another bullion patch with the same construction.

Dennis

**Espenlaub Militaria** · 05-24-2021 02:29 AM

We also buy and trade your items and full collections!

**stonemint** · 05-24-2021, 03:33 AM

Stig, sorry to say, the whole thing is fake from top to bottom.

**stig58** · 05-24-2021, 07:04 AM

Thanks for your reply, your probably right but it seems to be a rather good reproduction the wear and weathering of the cap is quite impressive. I have seen replicas advertised by expert militaria reproduction individuals who make such items to order, this Luftwaffe hat was more than likely made by such a person nice work.

Dennis

**stonemint** · 05-24-2021, 04:53 PM

Stig, I have to respectfully disagree--it is a common repro w/ artificial aging, and Paki insignia.

Compare with this original Erel:

**TWS** · 05-24-2021, 06:18 PM

The two glaring tells are the terrible sweat shield logo and the actual visor portion.

Those are at first glance. Then at second glance, the material of the cap itself.

**ErWeSa** · 05-24-2021, 07:52 PM

I agree with stonemint 100% - this is a mass produced reproduction with cheap (although hand embroidered) insignia - if you have other ones like this they are most likely also reproduction. The originals all were embroidered around a "Unterlage" - a cardboard that helped the persons to make these insignia and that caused a 3-d impression (not the flat thing we see here). Furthermore almost all the white LW-caps had detachable tops made from marcella fabric - there are a few made of gabardine but these are the exception to the rule. All those made with a non-detatchable top (at least those I know) were made of woollen fabric (Abzeichentuch). So this is not "a rather good reproduction" - with respectful disagreement. It is just a cheap reproduction that was artificially aged by puring tea/coffee/dirt on it. Neither the piping nor the visor/peak nor the sweathield or the sweatband comes near the original (ErEl sweatbands were very sophisticated - they avoided forehead pressure and overheating by their patented air-vent system and very hard to copy).