I was going through my old issues of The Samurai and happened to come across an article by John Egger on the Insignia of the Imperial Japanese Navy Reserve. Several years ago I picked up this cap for next to nothing, I had assumed it was post-war but I'm not certain on this. As you can see from the pictures it is a very well used cap. The insignia is held in place only by a couple of small stitches at the bottom. The cloth behind the insignia is less faded but it shows the round outline of the insignia which has been in place for a long time. The cap orignally started out as green but has faded to an almost dirty white/khaki.
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Unusual brass grommet vent holes -
The back of the cap.Comment
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Close-up of the insignia, very faded, stained and worn as well. You can see how loose it is on the cap. There are no signs that it had been stitched down better.Comment
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The inside stamp, very faded and difficult to read. It almost appears to be dated 1944 but it's almost impossible to read clearly. War time cap? War-time made cap re-issued after the war? I really have no idea, it's an odd duck.
ericComment
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Cap
Blinky,
The cap does appear to be war time and we'll have to rely on the date stamp. What amazes me most are the metal vent holes ! Don't see that much and not very often on late caps. The the compass star was the emblem of the Japanese navy reserve used on hat devices, rank insignia, shoulder boards, and even sailors cap tallys thru the 1920's , 30's until 1945. However, so did some merchant services and civilian services. This particular type of insignia was worn as a special training insignia on the sleeve. The blue background is a little light in color but that may be due to the camera flash. While the insignia on the cap is not the original insignia intended for this type of cap it could have been added during the war...not typical, but it's possible to have been added later (post war). You have to judge the cap by everything you know including how or where you got it. Different !Comment
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Eric, any signs of another insignia from interior? Insignia seems bright compared to cap.Comment
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I think the light distorts the true color of the insignia, in real life it appears more faded in line with the overall condition of the cap. The front of the insignia is fairly lighter than the back of it plus the color staining to the compass from the blue base is more evident. Looking at the inside there is a small hole in the center of the stitching, most likely from another insignia I can only assume. There are no stitching holes though from any other insignia. The fading behind the insignia matches the outline of the compass insignia well, that insignia obviously has been in place throughout much of it's life. I don't know why, but I also noticed that the black thread holding the insignia in place is the same as the thread that had been used to reinforce the chinstrap stitching.
This is one of my favorite pieces of headgear, it just screams character.
Thanks for the opinions guys!
ericComment
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Cap,
Eric,
I can see why you like it, very interesting cap. A nice piece !
Thanks for sharing....now how in the world did you dig up that old item I wrote?????
JohnComment
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heheheh.....I just noticed how long ago you wrote that article! I was going through my old issues of The Samurai looking for an article on rations I thought Louis did and ran across your article. Talk about memories....the days when you'd run home looking to see if the mailman dropped off the latest issue of The Samurai, Banzai and Manions.
ericComment
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cap
ah, those were the days. When we raced home each week to see if the new issue arrived. When the word "mail" had no "e" in front of it. I suddenly feel old. Thanks, I had forgotten I wrote that.
JohnComment
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Eric, nothing to amazing about the metal vent holes. I've got numerous variations of late navy caps in my collection with metal vent holes. The very late, coarse green weave civilian navy caps (yellow stencil painted anchor on oval insignia) that are frequently on ebay all have metal vent holes. Your cap is a real interesting example! Thanks for posting it!Comment
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