Original Item: Only One Available. This is a lovely example of a named German WWII Wehrmacht Heer Army Jäger Officer's Schirmmütze (visor cap), made by the legendary EREL company. It is marked on both the inside of the crown and the sweatband, making it a VERY desirable DOUBLE MARKED example! The cap has a lovely "Crushed" or "saddle-form" shape that is highly desirable, accomplished by removing the crown support stiffener ring. It features the typical feldgrau (field gray) "whipcord" weave wool construction with a flaschengrün (dark bottle-green) "badge cloth" band and a traditional high forward crown. It also has matching hellgrün (light green) piping along the top edge and flanking either side of the band, the Corps Color (Waffenfarbe) for Gebirgsjäger (mountain troops), Skijäger (ski troops), and Jäger (light infantry troops). It has the correct silver bullion chin strap, indicating that it is for an officer.

It is decorated with a very nice stamped aluminum eagle insignia on the peak and and an open silver bullion embroidered wreath surrounding a metal tri-color cockade on the band. The red felt insert on the cockade is still present and vibrant, though there is a bit of fraying to the oak leaf wreath. The chin strap is attached with the standard silvered pebbled buttons on either side of the cap. The vulcanfibre visor has a smooth black leather-look upper, exhibiting some wear along the edge, and is checkered light brown on the underside. It also has a lovely pattern of light crazing and checking on the black enamel finished top, with some minor cracking.

The inside of the cap is lined with cream sheer fabric, most likely rayon, which shows staining from use. The top celluloid sweat shield diamond is mostly intact, with one corner missing on the right side, and the stitching is only about 40% intact, with the right side mostly pulled away. Though partial, the inside of the crown still bears the EREL trademark logo:

BERLIN
EREL
SonderKlasse
Privat

The cap also has an embossed stamp over the left ear on the sweatband: EREL PATENT / STIRNSCHUTZ, which refers to the "Forehead Protection" of the sweatband design. This means that the sweatband was never replaced, making this a "double marked" example. There is no size marking we can see, but it seems to be about a 57-58cm. The gray finished leather sweatband is in good condition, still soft, but it does show staining and a few small tears from use. The piping around the edge is worn, however the stitching is still very well retained.

Overall condition is very good, with the exterior showing the expected fading from age and use. The color on the piping is well retained, though it does show some wear through in areas. The cap also does have moth damage to the green band, particularly at the top against the crown, which would have been well protected from the light, even in a bright room. This allowed mothing to occur underneath, as well as on the rear of the band.

A lovely service used example of a classic hat worn by German Army Jäger Officers in WWII, double marked by the legendary EREL company. This is an example that definitely saw a good amount of wear during the war. Very impressive and 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.