Germany, Luftwaffe. An Officer’s Visor Cap

(Luftwaffe Schirmmütze für Offiziere). A Luftwaffe Officer’s visor cap, constructed of dark grey wool. It features reinforced side walls, fully lined on the exterior with a ribbed black mohair cap band. Both the top and bottom edges of the cap band are trimmed with lengths of silver aluminum 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 grey wool backer bearing a hand-embroidered silver aluminum wire Luftwaffe eagle clutching a mobile swastika, measuring 70 mm (w) x 45 mm (h) overall. Directly underneath the eagle, the centre of the cap band is stitched with an additional insignia consisting of a padded dark grey backer bearing a central hand-embroidered silver aluminum wire tri-colour cockade, with a red wool centrepiece, flanked on each side by stylized wings of identical construction. A pebbled magnetic metal button flanks each side of the cap band, securing in place a chinstrap constructed of multiple rows of twisted and rolled silver aluminum wire and adjusted with dual sliding knots of identical construction. The chinstrap rests upon a protruding vulcanfibre visor, finished in a matte black on the obverse and in a matte dark green on the reverse. The interior of the cap band is circumscribed by a black leather sweatband bearing an embossed “EREL” mark on the left. The interior is also fully encompassed by a padded multi-piece silver-grey rayon liner. It retains a transparent plastic moisture guard stitched onto the crown, and is unmarked with the exception of a size stamp located beneath the left side of the sweatband which reads “59 ½”. Significant issues consistent with age and wear are evident, and include some fatigue to the exterior wool of the crown, wear of the insignia, loss of finish to the edge of the visor, deterioration and tearing of the sweatband, soiling throughout the interior liner, and distortion of the side wall reinforcement. This battlefield-worn example is in an overall fair condition.