Germany, Heer. A Rare Cavalry/Armoured Reconnaissance General’s Visor Cap, with Schwedter Eagle Tradition Badge

(Heer Schirmmütze für General der Aufklärer/Kavallerie). A rare Heer Cavalry/Armoured Reconnaissance General’s visor cap, constructed of field-grey wool. The cap features reinforced side walls, fully lined on the exterior with a smooth dark green wool cap band. Both the top and bottom edges of the cap band are trimmed with gold bullion wire piping, while an additional band of identical piping lines the outer edge of the crown. Stitched onto the peak is an insignia consisting of a dark green wool backer bearing a hand-embroidered gold bullion wire Wehrmacht eagle clutching a wreathed mobile swastika, measuring 68 mm (w) x 34 mm (h). Pinned onto the cap directly underneath the insignia is a Schwedter eagle tradition badge, constructed of gilded bronze and measuring 25 mm (w) x 25 mm (h). Stitched onto the cap at the centre of the cap band is an additional insignia consisting of a padded green wool backer bearing a wreath and cockade constructed of multi-coloured, hand-embroidered wire, measuring 78 mm (w) x 40 mm (h). The cap band is flanked by gilded and pebbled magnetic metal buttons, securing in place a chinstrap constructed of multiple rows of twisted and rolled gold bullion wire. The chinstrap rests upon a protruding vulcanfibre visor, finished in black on the obverse and in a light beige on the reverse. A brown leather sweatband measuring 30 mm in width lined the side walls, while the interior is also fully encompassed by a beige rayon-blended liner. Unmarked, the cap measures approximately 250 mm (w) x 255 mm (l) x 150 mm (h). Issues consistent with age and wear are evident, and including moderate soiling and material fatigue to the exterior wear (the latter particularly noticeable wear the crown meets the cap band), partial detachment of the visor eagle, fatigue of the chinstrap with the left side partially severed and repaired with string, cracking of the side wall reinforcement, and fatigue and soiling of the interior liner which has resulted in the loss of the crown’s moisture guard. This rare cap is in an overall fair condition.

Footnote: Permission to wear the Schwedter eagle tradition badge in the Third Reich was initially enjoyed by two companies of Kavallerie-Regiment 6, before being transferred solely to Kradschützenbataillon (Motorcycle Battalion) 3 in 1937, and shortly thereafter restored to all units following protests from the former. Worn by a variety of armoured cavalry and reconnaissance units at the outbreak of the Second World War, Kavallerie-Regiment Mitte, raised in 1943, later transferred the insignia to several of its units before it ended the war as the emblem of 3. Kavallerie-Division.