Original German WWII Fire Protection Police Officer Schirmmütze Visor Cap by Top Maker Peküro - Peter Küpper

Original Item: Only One available. This is a very good condition Feuerschutzpolizei, (Fire Protection Police) Officer's Schirmmütze Visor Cap, made by the firm of Peter Küpper, Wuppertal-Ronsdorf, under their very desirable Peküro label, one of the scarcer makers of these. This company was a "Top Five" maker during the WWII period, up there with EREL and Wilhelm Welhausen, and caps made by them were desirable then as they are now. The cap has a very nice white rayon twill lining, which still has a fully intact celluloid sweat shield diamond, with complete stitching. This is still marked with the complete maker information:-

PREISGEKRÖNTE
PeküroMütze
STIRNDRUCKFREI
Deutsches Reichs-Patent
Albert Ziegler
Giengen a. Brenz
Fil. Bachhagel

This indicates the cap was made by Peter Küpper, but was retailed by Albert Ziegler, who looks to have operated in Giengen on the Brenz river, possibly with a branch in nearby Bachhagel. "PREISGEKRÖNTE" translates to "award winning", while STIRNDRUCKFREI translates to "forehead pressure free, extoling the quality of the cap and how comfortable it is. We were unfortunately not able to locate any size markings, though the cap seems to be about a size 57-58cm

This is a high quality German made officers cap, fabricated from very dark navy blue "doeskin" wool cloth, with a wide black velvet plush material cap band. This is flanked by two rows of carmine red (karminrot) color piping around the circumference, and there is another row around the edge of the crown. This is the Protection Police Truppenfarbe (troop color) for the Fire branch. The crown stiffener is still present, giving it a very sharp look, and it has the correct officer's bullion chinstrap, held in place by pebbled buttons.

Cap is decorated with the correct insignia, including an early two piece silvered alloy Ordnungpolizei wreathed eagle on the band, with the classic aluminum Tri-color cockade above, still bearing its vibrant red felt insert. Both are in very good shape, with the cockade showing some moth damage to the insert, and the badge shows some oxidation, and has also lost the retaining clip on the left side, making it a bit loose, though it is still stuck through the lining of the cap. The bullion chinstrap is in great shape, showing just a bit of wear and fraying.

The vulcanfibre visor has a smooth black leather-look upper, exhibiting light wear along the edge and is brown on the underside with cross hatching. There is a lovely pattern of crazing and checking on the gloss top, only achieved after many years. Unfortunately the stitching that goes through the sweatband and visor to secure them to the body of the cap has mostly deteriorated, so the visor is held on very loosely to the cap. It is still holding on, but eventually it will most likely fall right off, which is very common due to how tight the stitching was originally. We have made no attempts to repair it, and think it best left alone. as there are already too many poorly repaired visor caps out there. The sweatband is made from light brown oilcloth faux leather, and has become stiff from age. It shows some cracking, but no tears, and the stitching in the rear is still quite good, unlike the front stitching.

Overall condition is very good, with the main condition issue being moth damage to the piping, which due to the loose weave is often the first thing targeted. The worst damage is on the bottom rear, which is protected from the light, making it more likely to be attacked. Otherwise the cap looks great!

A lovely example of the very colorful Fire Police visor cap, ready to add to your collection!

More on the Fire Protection Police:

On June 17TH 1936, Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler was appointed to the newly created position of Chef der Deutschen Polizei im Reichsministerium des Innern (Chief of the German Police in the National Ministry of the Interior), effectively giving him full control of all police agencies within Germany including the Feuerschutzpolizei, (Fire Protection Police). As a result of this appointment and the restructuring of all the separate German state police into a single national police force new regulations were instituted on June 25TH 1936 to bring about uniformity in dress for all police through-out the country. The Police were divided into eight assorted branches of service with each branch being assigned a specific identifying, Truppenfarbe, (branch of service color), with the Feuerschutzpolizei being allocated carmine truppenfarbe. The Feuerschutzpolizei were further distinguished from the other police branches of service with blue uniforms and headgear instead of the typical police green uniforms.