Luftwaffe visor cap ?

My folks picked this up a few years ago while going to antique stores. They got it as an impulse buy knowing I was into this sort of thing. Touching but I doubt it is what it represents. I did not have the heart to question it in front of them. I also don't think they paid much.

I never put my hands on a real Luftwaffe general visor cap I do have an EM but would be rather different. The hat is old for sure but not real right? I would guess just post war? I am not sure about insignia though. I am out if my element on these as well. The eagle may be original? I have several visor caps but never got into the bullion type insignia so I don't know how to authenticate? Any thoughts?

I say it looks promising and will watch what the experts say. Your parents are cool, thoughtful people.

That maker made plenty of postwar hats, caps, visors, I believe they still do. The one tell is the "diamond" or sweat barrier / logo. Is it celluloid or plastic? If the former that's a good sign, even though those celluloid labels were also used up immediate postwar. From my very ignorant view, the cap looks very good. However, the fakes are very good and this is a desirable visor cap. Celluloid, by this time, would be stiff and brittle. That looks like plastic, and if it is, it dooms it.

I don't know, that sweat shield looks like vinyl type material, and not celluloid, which is a big red flag.

Interested in seeing more opinions for sure!

ETA Beat by a minute...but encouraging that I think a little like Ham! He da man!

pzjgr said:

I don't know, that sweat shield looks like vinyl type material, and not celluloid, which is a big red flag.

Interested in seeing more opinions for sure!

ETA Beat by a minute...but encouraging that I think a little like Ham! He da man!

Click to expand...

That may not be a good thing pzjgr

https://www.negele.de/produkte/historische-uniformen/

With a bit of research that appears to be a postwar Negele label. The wartime had an eagle, looked completely different, and were of course, celluloid not plastic. It's got two "scratch" type impressions on it that may have been someone aging it or someone testing to see if it was celluloid. That significant of pressure would cause a dent like that in plastic or vinyl, but would crack period celluloid, which would crack on its own if not stored perfectly.

The shield is celluloid. The scratches are actually cracks. Tried to show this on the attached.

The chin strap seems thin compared to my others which even though are mixed army and NSDAP the braid is about the same between them. However I am thumbing through a headgear book by Pat Moran and John Maguire and see some examples like this?

The insignias look real to me but again out of my element. There are no signs of anything being removed to put these on in place of.

This is a post-war cap with fake insignia applied, very easy to tell if you've handled enough original specimens.

What are the signs on the insignia? Again out of my element on this especially the bullion.

Authentic general officer grade bullion insignia is finely executed. In this case, look at how the wings of the wreath are executed....very poorly.