Guys I need your help on this one. I bought this Generals Visor Cap a few months ago from a dealer and overpaid on the promise that is a perfect original piece. I then recently decided to get rid of most of my collection to focus on Luftwaffe KC groupings and gave all my collection including the cap to a very reputable dealer to sell for me. He came back and said this is in his opinion a modern copy, however, he is an expert in badges and medals and not headgear. Of course the dealer who sold me this piece disputes it and guess what, I'm sitting in the middle!! Hopefully I can get an unbiased opinion on the Forum experts to either give me piece of mind or go back to the first dealer with some independent opinions!
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Hi Andre,
I will weigh in on this with my observations, but unfortunately not a definite answer.
I've never seen this celluloid before, but if the cap is original, the sweatband stamp would indicate that this cap was made by Clemens Wagner and sold by the shop listed on the celluloid.
It looks to me as if the sweatband is original - the question would then be, is this cap a Frankenstein (assembled from a mixture of repro and original parts)? From the photos, I do not see any extra stitch holes - you should take a jeweler's magnifying eyepiece and go over those stitch holes very carefully to see if you can see traces of any old thread or new holes. If you do see those things, then it is possible that the cap is a Frankenstein.
Apart from that, there is nothing that leaps out at me as being out of place - the way that the oakleaves are stitched to the cap is not unheard of, although I'm sure some people would prefer to not see the thread coming all the way through the lining.
In the end, given that you have a reputable dealer who says it's original and another one who says it's not, perhaps they can agree on another dealer who specializes in visor caps (Gerard Stezelberger, for instance), who could do a hands-on inspection and who could provide a certificate of authentication if he feels it is original. The usual fee for inspecting an item like this is about US$100, which would either allow you sell the cap as an original, or return it to the seller for your money back. Either way, it's $100 well spent.
By the way, I trust that you haven't had the same problem with the Erel Privat Luft Officer's cap that I sold to you last year....
CliveComment
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Hi Clive
No the cap you sold me is perfect. In fact it is the only cap I have kept becuase it is such a nice piece.
Could you please give me the email for Gerard Stezelberger
Thanks for the feedback
AndreComment
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Personally, I would like to see photos taken in daylight without the camera flash because the exterior and insignia looks almost radioactive on my monitor right now, not sure about anyone else?Comment
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Schlaefen und Stirndrueck ziemlich gewaltig
Colleague Watkins is a keen observer of these things, and based on what seems to be a reapplied Clemens Wagner sweat thingy in this cap, I would not buy it. The sweat band has been reapplied, to be sure. If this Muenchen maker retailed caps made by C Wagner, then such would be visible on the rhombus, too. That is, it would have "Erstklassig" or something similar or any of the other CW appelations as well as the 2dary retailer &c. At least such is my experience of especially Lw caps, say, Wagner ones retailed by the Verkaufsabteilung d. Lw.Comment
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