Original German WWII Luftwaffe Officer Schirmmütze Visor Cap by Ce-Ha Prima with Embroidered Bullion Insignia

Original Item: Only One Available. This is a lovely Luftwaffe Officer's Schirmmütze Visor Cap, with great early pattern bullion embroidered insignia. It shows signs of light to moderate use in service, but no abuse, giving it a fantastic aged look. A wonderful honest example that still has the original crown support stiffener ring, so the sides of the crown have not slumped down over the years. It has a lovely relaxed look that looks great. This example was produced by the desirable Ce-Ha Prima brand, which was a name Carl Halfar made high end officer caps under during the war. The cap is roughly size 7 1/4 or slightly larger.

This Officer's Schirmmütze Visor Cap is a very high quality manufactured example. Fabricated in Luftwaffe dark blue gray Fliegerblau (Flier's Blue) "doeskin" weave wool gabardine, with a wide black ribbed wool cap band and three rows of fine silver bullion piping around the circumference. It is fronted by a heavy bullion embroidered Luftwaffe insignia pair that includes a silver bullion Luftwaffe eagle on blue gray wool backing above a high relief silver bullion oak leaf wreath with stylized wings and a metal tri color cockade. The insignia are in very good condition, with the bullion well retained, and showing very little in the way of oxidation except for the cockade, which shows a lovely patina. The red felt insert is still vibrant, making this a great set of early hand embroidered insignia.

The visor on this cap is the standard "vulcanfibre", which shows a lovely pattern of crazing and checking due to age on the top. It has a molded border, not the faux leather trim that we often see, and is matte black on the bottom. The visor is still firmly attached to the body of the cap, with no signs of stitch deterioration. Above the visor is the correct bullion officer's chin strap, retained by pebbled buttons, which is in lovely condition.

The interior is lined with fine navy blue colored colored rayon faux silk, as usually seen on high end officer caps. Due to the color we cannot see if it is stained, and the original diamond shaped celluloid sweat shield is fully intact, however the stitching is probably only retained at 50%. There is no size marked, however the maker marking is still fully intact, and reads:-

Verkaufs-Abteilung
Der
Luftwaffe
Berlin SW 68
Puttkamerstr. 16/18
Ce-Ha
Prima

The inside of the cap has a lovely light gray leather sweatband, now showing staining and discoloration from age and use. It is still quite supple, and the stitching is retained at about 75%, with an on the rear right of the cap where it is completely missing. We did notice some markings under the sweatband, such as ELIM, but they are not ones that we recognize, or are too faint to read.

Overall condition is very good, showing signs of moderate, but no abuse. The bullion piping is still in great shape, showing very little in the way of wear, and just a few areas of fraying. The color is still well retained, and there is no real mothing we can see, just very light wear and staining from age. This is most evident on the very bottom, where it would be in the most contact with sweat and oils from the wearer.

A truly quality Luftwaffe officer in lovely condition with silver bullion embroidered insignia, ready to display!

The German Schirmmütze Visor Cap:
The visor cap (Schirmmütze) was an important part of the headgear worn by German uniformed military, civil, paramilitary and political organizations during the Third Reich. This was the standard cloth headgear worn as a part of the service uniform. Visor caps were worn outdoors as well as indoors, and were often required to be worn by all personnel on duty. Visor caps were made in versions specific to each organization and were often further differentiated through the use of insignia, colored piping, or style of chin cord, to indicate rank, role or branch. The insignia used on these caps ranged from simple stamped metal emblems, to elaborate hand embroidery. Visor caps were issued to enlisted soldiers and NCOs in the military and in some other organizations. Officers had to purchase their own hats, and lower ranks could choose to purchase caps that were of a higher quality than the rather basic, issue examples. The private purchase caps were generally made in very high quality, with fine materials. A wide variety of fabrics were used, from Trikot and doeskin, to heavy wool, or even lightweight white fabric for summer wear. In the military, issue of these caps was generally suspended shortly after the outbreak of the war, but they continued to be worn by some troops until the end of the war.