Luftwaffe General's crusher by Traugott Rahne of Hanover

[JasonA]

Wow, I am a bit surprised about all the positive feedback. I was thinking I had a lot of COJONES to post this here but apparently you guys love it as much as I do. Thanks for all the kind remarks ...

Kurt - it did take cojones, and you are a brave man to do it. Because as you know better than anybody, pieces can easily be impugned as bad because they are non-textbook, and then that curse cannot easily be lifted down the road. This has likely happened with both good and bad pieces.

Speaking on behalf of mint depot Queens everywhere, I concur that this visor has tons of character and would be a great addition to any collection. Just a very cool piece...but who's surprised? You have a great eye and killer instincts when it comes to picking out diamonds in the rough.



Congrats!

J-

[DougO]

Kurt,

Great cap. Here is the cap that I told you about from my collection that was likely re-piped when the Gemeinden Polizei (small town police with wine red piping) were absorbed by the Schutzpolizei (city police with green piping) in 1942.

Doug

[KC1]

I actually drove down to Munich for an Erel Luftwaffe 3D cockade General's visor but in hand, I liked this one A LOT better and passed on the Erel.

YOU PASSED ON THE EREL!!!!!

Very nice score on these upgraded General visor. It's always best to get an on-hands inspection as it can really talk to you. To your point earlier, this had to have been a favorite hat or sentimental/good luck charm as most officers making this grade would have proudly purchased the new status symbol to show it off.

[BPA-Paul]

Felt like sharing this new piece that I picked last week. At first glance, it looks like an item you don’t really want to have in your collection as it’s a pretty sloppy upgrade from an officer’s crusher.
In hand, though, I immediately fell in love with this amazing piece of history.

You can clearly see that the cap was worn with the added gold piping (hair grease and oxidation everywhere). This was probably the General’s favorite cap (it’s really light and has a leather visor). Not everyone’s „cup of tea“ but I’d always prefer a piece like this over an unworn mint depot Queen. Too bad it can’t talk.

Congrats Kurt, that piece has a lot of character.

[Obersalzberg]

Although its been crushed its not a crusher is it. A regular cap that has been used and shaped
Very unusual....surely his peers would have laughed at his home made efforts?

[Kurt]

Although its been crushed its not a crusher is it. A regular cap that has been used and shaped
Very unusual....surely his peers would have laughed at his home made efforts?

Technically, there were no Luftwaffe crushers as with the WH and SS (no chin cords etc...). This cap, however, is clearly lighter in construction with a flexible pasteboard and leather visor so I'd call it a crusher. It boils down to definition I guess. You can also call it a Schirmmütze of lighter construction with leather bill...

Uniforms are a lot about status so it really depends on who wore this piece of headgear. As a member of the General Saff, or Medical General officer, I'd agree that his subordinates (don't know how many "peers" he'd have had) probably would have laughed about this (not into his face of course). If he was a fighter or pilot, the opposite would have been true (and would also go REALLY well with the Nationalsocialistic propaganda picture).

Kurt

[Kurt]

DougO,

thanks for sharing those pics. Most interesting and far better executed than on my cap .

YOU PASSED ON THE EREL!!!!!

...

I most certainly did. The Erel had about 60% of the pasteboard missing and serious repairs of the lining & an entirely reswen visor. It was original but not worth the 5K + Euros it went for in my opinion. I'd say it only went this high as these minor details were neither revealed in the pics nor the description.

Kurt

[Researchman]

LW generals crusher

Hi to all of you. It was about 2,5 years ago this Thread ended. The visor from Kurt was for sale and is now in my collection. Any other comment from you?
After studying the visor it seems the leather bill has been with the visor since the beginning. The flexible band is made from thin carton which has been totally crushed. There is also a name "Kruse" written in the band.
Can anybody be of help? Was there an LW general named Kruse?
Thanks in advance :-)