Has this visor been repaired?

[avenger]

Hello folks. I bought this visor on the estand, and I'm trying to determine if my suspicions that the visor has been repaired are true or not. I'm pretty new to visors, and hope my inexperience is my problem. But, I'm pretty certain my fears of a visor repair are correct. I'd like to get opinions before contacting the seller.

Thanks everyone!

Here are some photos of the visor:



And here are photos of where I think this visor may have been repaired.

When looking it over, I noticed some stuff that looks like it might be glue, which also shows under blacklight. I'm not certain it's glue, and it's only in a few spots like this where there's a little on the visor and it's coming through the visor stitch holes:



This got me looking more closely. Under the sweatband, I discovered gray colored thread stitching here and there that doesn't look like original construction:



Here are some photos of the stitches where the visor joins the black velvet on the rim:

This looks like original factory stitching to me between the red lines:



Here are a couple of the gray thread showing through stitch holes, and even piercing the black velvet in places:



Lastly, here is where the gray thread has come through to the front of the visor where I see it go through the visor stitch holes, and made little knot shaped stitches here and there. I felt like this is going to be the most convincing evidence of a visor repair:



I'm in this visor for about $750, and suspect that even though these repairs were not disclosed in the sales thread, the seller probably wasn't even aware of these issues. If this is repaired, it appears to have been done well overall, but I know this will have a fairly significant affect on the value, and I'm not sure how to appraise things from here. Any thoughts or advice are much appreciated.

Thanks again.

[jmcm]

Looks to be reattached. Looks to be a nice hat.

[BenVK]

Looks like some of the visor stitching came loose and someone added those repair stitches. It could have been period done and IMO it's not a big deal anyway, it's still a very nice cap.

[nonameno]

Hello Gentlemen,
In my opinion, the repairs appear well done and possibly period done, and in any case, I think it is a very nice cap and I don't see this impacting value dramatically.
Thank you,
Curtiss

[enorepap]

I agree with Jmcm, Ben and Curtiss. A restoration masterfully performed to a very nice visor. I see no particular problems: almost all of German militaria has been restored in one way or another. In this case it does not seem to have dented the object's authenticity.

[stonemint]

I agree. Pekuro sweatbands are prone to pull away from the visor due to the velvet. Most wartime Pekuros seem to have reinforcement stitching due to this.

[steiner99]

I'm 100% agree with the others. I would not have absolut no problem with that repair! It's a very nice cap!

[avenger]

Thank you all for your replies! I really appreciate the feedback. Not every stitch hole has a repair in it, and a number of them do not appear to have any stitches left in them at all. Perhaps some have come undone over the years, I don't know... But, the visor appears to still be firmly in place, though would I do well to handle it extra carefully? Do the same stitches that attach the velvet/sweatband also hold the visor to the body of the hat?

I admit it's both relieving and puzzling to read the reactions to the repair. I'm quite new to visors, but have more experience in other areas of collecting like badges and flags. In my experience, repairs significantly hurt the value of an item in these other areas like when a catch is re-soldered, often making a nice piece into "a shame". Am I understanding correctly that in the area of cloth items (or perhaps just headgear) there is some leniency regarding restitching/repairs?

So, at $750 is this still a properly priced visor even with the repair considerations?

I clearly have a lot to learn about the different areas of collecting. Thanks everyone for all the little nudges along the way!

[enorepap]

Hi Avenger

The price is equivalent to euro 674.55, ie more than one monthly minimum pension here in Italy. Aside from that, here it is the eternal play between seller and buyer. If the firsts has lost the sense of reality and the seconds are willing to spend crazy amounts, that's it. In fact, the object itself has no value except what the buyer's desire of possess gives it. After all this useless philosophy , this price is not too high, given the conditions of this visor, and therefore it is only at you to decide whether to try to go down a bit with a deal or wait. The visor is very nice but in the end, it is an infantry like many others ... in my opinion no more than $ 500. As you see, it is just to make some reciprocal steps, down and up, and maybe you will reach a mutually satisfactory agreement.

Marcello

[BenVK]

Do the same stitches that attach the velvet/sweatband also hold the visor to the body of the hat?

That's correct and Pekuro's are particular prone to the stitches breaking because they used a relatively light weight thread. Clemens Wagner caps also tend to suffer the same problem.

In regards to price, $750 is at the higher end of the scale for a Pekuro Infantry visor IMO. I think you may struggle to get your money back when/if you decide to sell it in the future.