Germany, Ordnungspolizei. A Gendarmerie Officer’s Visor Cap, by Willy Sprengpfeil

(Schirmmütze für Offizier der Gendarmerie). An extremely well-preserved visor cap for a Gendarmerie Officer, constructed of smooth police-blue wool. The cap features reinforced side walls, fully lined with a dark brown wool twill cap band. Orange woven piping fully lines the circumference of the crown, with additional bands of orange piping trimming both the top and bottom of the cap band. Pinned into the peak is a tri-colour cockade, consisting of a fanned, black-painted non-ferrous metal base topped by a polished and ribbed metal ring, with a red wool centrepiece. The cockade measures 25 mm in total diameter. Pinned into the cap band just underneath the cockade is an aluminum Ordnungspolizei insignia consisting of an oval oak leaf wreath overlaid by a German national eagle clutching a wreathed mobile swastika. The eagle insignia measures 55 mm (w) x 45 mm (h). The cap is flanked on each side by pebbled aluminum buttons, securing in place a decorative chinstrap constructed of multiple rows of twisted and rolled silver aluminum wire. It is adjusted with dual sliding knots of identical construction, and rests upon a protruding vulcanfibre visor. The visor presents with a black matte finish on the obverse and in a brown matte finish on the reverse. On the interior, a light brown leather sweatband fully surrounds the side walls, measuring 50 mm in width and securely held in place by a row of machine stitching. A golden-yellow rayon-blended liner encompasses the body of the interior, with a transparent plastic moisture guard stitched onto the crown. Underneath the moistures guard is a maker’s mark of “WILLY SPRENGPFEIL, HAMBURG”, circumscribing the firm’s diamond-shaped logo. Above the maker’s mark is a stamped manufacture date of “1941”, while below is a size stamp of “56 ½”. There is an additional slot set into the guard for the insertion of a nametag. The cap measures approximately 245 mm (w) x 260 mm (l) x 164 mm (h). Only minor and age-appropriate issues are evident, and include some soiling of the interior liner and deterioration of the sweatband stitching. The cap is otherwise an exceptional example in extremely fine condition.