Germany, Heer. A Gebirgsjäger EM/NCO’s Mountain Cap, by Hermann Potthoff

(Heer Bergmütze für Männer der Gebirgstruppe). An extremely well-preserved Heer Bergmütze (Mountain Cap) issued to Heer Gebirgsjäger Enlisted personnel. Constructed of field-grey wool, the cap is fully surrounded by fold-down side panels, scalloped toward the front, which provide optional ear and neck protection to the wearer. When not in use, the panels are rolled up and secured in place with two field-grey painted wooden buttons which emanate from the right panel and meet an equal number of reinforced buttonholes on the left panel. Stitched onto the left side of the panels is an edelweiss insignia consisting of a silvered feinzink base with a gilded stamen, measuring 5 cm (w) x 4 cm (h). The crown is flanked on each side by ventilation holes reinforced with grey painted magnetic metal grommets. Affixed to the peak with period original stitching is an insignia consisting of a T-shaped field-grey rayon base bearing a machine-embroidered silver-grey Wehrmacht eagle clutching a wreathed mobile swastika, set just above a tri-colour cockade. The peak insignia measures 6 cm (w) x 4.5 cm (h) overall. Completing the exterior features is a protruding card stock-reinforced visor, fully lined in identical wool. A brown leather sweatband surrounded the interior of the side walls, measuring 3.5 cm in width and bearing a black ink manufacture date of “5/1941” on the reverse of the right side. The interior is encompassed by a multi-piece slate-grey rayon liner, stamped on the crown with a maker’s mark in the form of the logo of Hermann Potthoff, Coesfeld, just above the logo of the firm’s patented “Frischluft” (“Fresh Air”) design, along with a size mark of “55”. The cap measures approximately 18 cm (w) x 26 cm (l) x 14 cm (h). The sweatband and interior liner demonstrates minor soiling consistent with field use, but this superb and high-quality example of a Bergmütze remains in an overall extremely fine condition.