alter art artillery cap

[Remka]

Hello everyone,

Could you authenticate and estimate this alter art artillery cap please?

What do you think of the attributes?

Thank you.

[phild]

Due to band color, insignia type and some other characteristics, I would date the cap around late 1934 or early 1935....so it is early and pretty rare to see with these specific characteristics.

I have no issues with the originality of the cap or any of its features. The visor will draw the most flak because most collectors seem to think that they were all leather or should be in order to meet the false criteria of "true crusher".....but since that is a retrospective term and criteria it has no historical bearing on what these types of officer field caps were or were not.

The visor on this one does not seem to be actual Vulcan Fibre, but something more flexible and thinner. Truth is that many materials other than leather were used for visors on these field cap or "alter Arts" as one prefers.

I can no comment on value.....I would think somewhere between $900 and $1500 but that is a rough guess.....maybe 10 years ago a cap like this could sell for near $2000 during the feeding frenzy days when some M43 tunics sold in minutes of being posted for $3500!!

[GAMS1]

Early Field soft cap , RW type .
The Fiber visor is normal .Not only leather was used .
Nick

[billbert]

Pleasant and Believable...Billbert

[Nightwish]

Very nice! Thanks for showing!

[jacquesf]

Looks like it had chin cords before? I also pause about the flatwire insignia application. A reichs heer visor with changed insignia? J

[phild]

Looks like it had chin cords before? I also pause about the flatwire insignia application. A reichs heer visor with changed insignia? J

That would be possible, I should have added that real differences between the peak cap and the field cap will be materials used in the cap band (not headband) and the lack of rigid construction of the top part.....even these aspects can be subjective.......so it is not always easy to say for sure.

Just to muddy the water a little more, crushers (including those with leather visors) can be seen in many wartime photos with chin cords attached.......maybe wearer done, but nevertheless worn. I would say that maybe between 1/3 and 1/2 of all wartime SS crushers that I have seen in period photos are being worn with cords.

Heer caps seen with cords are not as common in photos but I have seen a number of them.

[Johnny R]

Very nice early hat.

[Remka]

Thank you all for your answers and for this informations!