Italy, Fascist State. A British Made Italian Blackshirt Fez, c. 1940

A black fez of the MVSN of English manufacture, constructed of fine black doeskin wool. The exterior top of the fez is adorned with a tassel-style decoration of two braided cords with a thick bush like array of twisted tassels which hang over the side. The front presents an Italian Fasces constructed of silver and Gold bullion, measuring 22.2mm (w) x 58.5mm (h), showing fraying and a loss of bullion on the blade. The interior bears a 48mm brown leather sweatband and the circumference, held securely in place by a row of black machine stitching. The sweatband is maker marked ELEGANTE on the side. A crème coloured silk liner coats the inside of the fez, which has been marked in the middle with the Royal Standard of the United Kingdom encircled by a crowned order of the garter. The fez measures 225mm in diameter, with a height of 132mm. Minor soiling visible on the sweatband and interior silk liner, the external tassels are frayed at the ends, wear to fasces visible on the front, remains in near extremely fine condition.

Footnote: The MVSN (Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezze Niazonale), Security Volunteer Militia or Blackshirts, were an active paramilitary group in Italy during the period immediately following the first World War up until the end of Second World War. Comparable to the SA, the founding members were nationalist intellectuals, former army officers and young landowners opposing peasant’s and country labourer’s unions. As Mussolini’s power increased, their methods became harsher. In 1943, following the fall of the Fascist regime, the MVSN was integrated into the Royal Italian Army and disbanded.