A Luftwaffe Signals (Nachtrichten) NCO/Enlisted Man's Visor Cap by WILLY RAST, NÜRNBERG

Fabricated in Luftwaffe blue gray Fliegerblau (Flier's Blue) wool, with a wide black ribbed rayon cap band, traditional high peak with matching cinnamon brown piping along the top edge and flanking either side of the band, indicating the branch to be Signals. It is decorated with a well-detailed silvered aluminum Luftwaffe eagle insignia on the peak and an oak leaf wreath with stylized wings and cockade on the band, the latter in silvered aluminum with a red and black painted cockade. The black smooth finished patent leather chin strap rests upon the visor, composed of three pieces, the central piece with two magnetic metal buckles and joined to the flanking end pieces via rectangular loops, the end pieces attached to black finished buttons on either side. The vulcan visor has a smooth black leather-look upper and has a dark green synthetic underside. The butterscotch-coloured leather sweatband is perforated along the front edge with five tiny rows of forty ventilation holes each, the ends of the sweatband tied together with a white ribbon and finished in a bow-tie. The inside of the cap is lined in champagne-coloured nylon, with the dome brandishing a celluloid shield, marked in brown ink on the celluloid shield with an eagle bearing a shield inscribed "Extra Klasse" and a insignia below inscribed "MARKE STANDARD", with a paper slip in the sleeve in between the insignias inscribed with the owner's name, "WILLY RAST, NÜRNBERG LODELSTR. 6". The cap measures 230 mm x 280 mm x 160 mm in height overall, exhibiting light crazing on the chin strap and visor, paint loss on one chin strap buckle, surface wear visible on the other buckle and the two buttons at the ends of the chin strap, cracking and discolouration evident on the sweatband from active use, along with the red cork strip on the underside of the sweatband at the front displaying extensive fragmentation, the cap free of mothing. Very fine.