ss Visor NCO

[Sayle F]

SS Insignia

Insignia look to be good Assmann examples.

[harrah_de]

...one of the very good copies with some original material (Visor, Band) Fielgrey material is from a Mantel. Insignia are "good" looking, but fake. The maker has made many mistakes - too much to list...

[Sayle F]

SS Insignia

The insignia are good, not fake. The pic of the skull is a little blurry but if you look at the one photo where you see the prongs for the skull coming through the pasteboard they are not the type found on the fakes but are the type on the Assmann ges gesch marked totenkopf. The eagle I am 99.9% sure is an umarked Assmann eagle.

[NTZ]

The cap is a bit beat up but I have seen nothing so far that makes me thing its bad.

[PMan]

Hat

I agree, seems OK. The sweat diamond appears to be stiff and flat as well. I think the wavey appearance of the fabric underneath makes it look soft.
Peter

[Bob Hritz]

Insignia look to be good Assmann examples.

I stand corrected, Kevin. I paid attention to the original, now empty holes, and never saw the round prongs on my tiny laptop. GOOD CALL.

Bob Hritz

[Sayle F]

insignia

Didn't want him to toss em in the trash.

[norge]

Thanks for opinions. I better get it home then for hands inspection.

[Kreager]

Can't wait to hear the hands on. Personally i don't like it. I believe it's a put together cap.

I'm only refering to the cap not the insignia.

[NTZ]

I hate to state the obvious but the first thing I would do in hand is hit that cheesecloth with a black light.

[BenVK]

That, my friends, is your typical type of grey bundeswehr sweatband.

[NTZ]

Ben, it does look to be rather thick. Certainly not the norm for a period cap. I am not ready to condemn the whole cap yet. The problem is its condition. It is near impossible to tell anything from pics when you have a cap in that condition. You need to look at these in hand.

[BenVK]

It's got a chance but in my experience, deciding to go for caps like these usualy comes down to the asking price. They rarely come from sources that guarantee a refund so you have to decide whether you can afford to take a risk. Make the right choice and you're laughing!

[SgtB]

I agree there are some definite red flags, but the badges are zink Assmans, and that's a big plus, although I can't explain why they would have been lowered. The width of the band is really no concern, because originals are all over the place with regards to width. In period photos alone, you can see them no wider than the skull, up to twice as wide. I agree with Nick that a blacklight on that cheesecloth is first order work. It even looks a little synthetic-ish. And I'll take Ben's word that the sweatband is a Bundeswehr special. Grey linings seemed to be the favorite color in the twenty or so years after the war, and that's one reason I've never cared for them much, even though IMO probably 20 % of SS caps had them. As usual, it's guilty until proven innocent, but it does stand a chance from what I see.

[SgtB]

Something strange I just noticed. If you look inside at the top of the pasteboard, you'll see the stitching is two-threads wide. Which IMO smacks of being hand-sewn not machined. Now that is entirely possible as many of these caps were partially hand-made by Jews in work camps, and there weren't always enough machines to go around to fill large orders. But I've never seen it before in this location. Anyone else?