The "Other" Schirrmuetzen mit Totenkopf

[Rick C]

Question for the pros (that's you folks) - There's been talk (by other pros on this forum) slamming the skulls seen on Third Reich 17th Reg caps that didn't have that separation between the nostrils - an open nose, if you will.

While my 17th Reg has two nose holes, I see a perfectly good example here (on the posted imperial cap) of being open (not separated). Now I've always been of the opinion that the aforemention "pros" saying the skulls with the single open nose hole versus the two hole variant were, shall we say, full of crap & more interested appearing knowledgable by slamming some poor collectors cap but me, I'm just a poor, uninformed lad who like visors. What say you pros on the two styles of totenkopf affixed to these caps - I see nothing wrong with either. Rick C.

[Chris Liontas]

Nice Reichswehr hat!! I just got that book--gotta say that is a impressive hat.

[Robin Lumsden]

Nice Reichswehr hat!!

Here's another..................

[Robin Lumsden]

Question for the pros (that's you folks) - There's been talk (by other pros on this forum) slamming the skulls seen on Third Reich 17th Reg caps that didn't have that separation between the nostrils - an open nose, if you will.

While my 17th Reg has two nose holes, I see a perfectly good example here (on the posted imperial cap) of being open (not separated). Now I've always been of the opinion that the aforemention "pros" saying the skulls with the single open nose hole versus the two hole variant were, shall we say, full of crap & more interested appearing knowledgable by slamming some poor collectors cap but me, I'm just a poor, uninformed lad who like visors. What say you pros on the two styles of totenkopf affixed to these caps - I see nothing wrong with either. Rick C.

Every week on eBay.de, repro Brunswick skulls appear with no separation in the nose. They are identical to the skull on the cap that started this thread. They have been on the go there for a couple of years. They are in very thin metal, with a tarnished silver apprearance. The prongs are thin and snap off easily.

Whether any original Brunswick skulls existed without the separation, I don't know. But this recent run of German fakes has given all skulls without the separation a 'bad name'.

[solo]

this is my crash 5° cav. reg.

[RUHL13]

Here is my example with skull.

[RUHL13]

And named...K.R. 13.
Regards,
Gary

[Bob Hritz]

I can't explain the skull, but it has always been there.

Bob Hritz

[Rick C]

Inf:

[derek]

Solo,
Do you have a shot of the interior of your cavalry cap in post #20?
Derek

[Robin Lumsden]

For future reference, the picture below shows one of the 100% FAKE totenkopf badges that have been circulating around eBay in Germany for the last couple of years. Note the nose.

[Michael Everett]

Awesome

And, for the sake of continuity, my favorite Erel visor of all time, from Infty Regiment 17, and Braunschweig distributor marked:

Dear Stonemint,

Awesome Braunschweig visors. The EREL is spectacular.

My favorite:

MIKE

[stonemint]

I posted this thread on the Imperial forum, but I know many of us don't go over there that often, so I will post some of my thoughts here. I agree with Robin that the style of skull depicted on my first hat (the blue one) is extensively faked of late. However, these are different from mine in 2 very important respects.

The first is that the fakes are cast, not stamped. Here is one sold on Ebay just last week--notice the pitting behind the skull, and the lack of definition to the teeth:

[stonemint]

I hated doing this, but to prove my point, I removed the skull from the hat.

Mine is stamped cupal, with a nickel-silver finish on the front and rear--it is not zinc or aluminum.

Also, note that the prongs on mine are attached to the back of the bridge of the nose, and not the forehead/chin of the skull:

[stonemint]

Here is another Ebay fake--same setup as the one Robin posted, and the other Ebay one posted above--it is also a cast alloy, probably with a lot of lead in it. In my opinion, the ebay specials are all cast from a mould of a stamped original: