BGS Head Gear

[Gordon Craig]

Gentlemen,

We have spent a lot of time on BGS cammouflage items but not much time on their other uniforms. Especially on head gear. I own several BGS visor caps but I don't have a lot of information on them. There have been a few posts on the forum relating to visor caps but no real study on them. Only Klaus seems to have some info on them and hopefully he can help out with this project. I am going to start with my earliest enlisted man's cap and move on from there.
Early caps had separate cockades and eagles. Klaus mentioned in one earlier thread that the earliest two badge caps has a bright silver eagle while later caps had an "Alt Silber" eagle. Mine appears to have the "Alt-Silber" eagle and wreath as well. Klaus indicated in an early post that this cap would date from the 60s/70s.

[Gordon Craig]

A side view. The crown of the cap is pipped with dark green and it matches the colour of the cap band.

[Gordon Craig]

I do not have an officers version of this cap so I will have to go directly to the Prasinets (general) type of cap.
This cap is interesting as it seems to mix the bright gold and alt gold insignia.

[Gordon Craig]

A side view of this cap.

[Gordon Craig]

The next series of visor caps had a one piece cap badge. This is an officers cap. I do not have an enlisted man's cap.

[Gordon Craig]

The next cap I have in my collection is a one piece embroidered cap badge. The cap badge is embroidered in a dull cloth with silver bullion highlites on the eagle and silver acorns on the wreath.

[Gordon Craig]

Next up is a Prasidents one piece cap badge. This badge is done in bright gold with an alt gold cockade. It is easy to see, in this photo, that the cockade fits onto the wreath as a separate piece.

[Gordon Craig]

A side view of the above cap.

[Gordon Craig]

The last cap is a trial one that was never intoduced. It resembles the caps worn by the single service members.

Regards,

Gordon

[Gordon Craig]

A side view of the cap and the paper label inside of it.

[Gene T]

Nice hats, Gordon!

I am intrigued by the subtle, mildly 'Tellerform' shape of the crowns on these. They seem to have more in common with DDR-made hats than with those sweeping Sattelform Schirmmuetze that we usually associate with BRD headgear.

Are all of these hats from the same maker?

A very interesting study!


Gene T

[Gordon Craig]

Gene T,

Yes they are from the same maker except the last trial hat which has more of a teller shape than the others. These caps are all unissued and therefore do not have the more "saddle shape" that other BRD police caps have.

Regards,

Gordon

[Collectinsteve]

Yow! Beautiful examples of the various types of Schirmmützen. Do you know when the single piece cockades were used vs. the two piece types?

Great stuff, Gordon. I am particularly impressed with the trials hat where they apparently attempted to hybrid the standard green hat with the white "gummi" hat used at night and other situations needing high visibility. I expect it was rejected because, well, it looks pretty goofy IMHO. That's a heck of a find.

Steve

[Gordon Craig]

Steve,

Thanks for the comments. I do not know when the change from a two piece to one piece cap badge took place. A piece of information I once had but have now forgotten. I had hoped someone would be able to help out here. Not only the change from two piece to one piece but from alt gold/silver to new gold/silver.

Regards,

Gordon

[SCHUPO]

Nice examples Gordon! Thanks for showing.