Help With a Civil Visor.

[GregK]

Hi Guys,

I've had this visor for about 10 yrs. or so. It's actually one of the first things that I ever bought. This piece has been residing in a friends house for the last 3 yrs. He's finally brought it back.

Here's my question now. What is it? We've never really known exactly what it is. In fact we think that it has been altered at some point as you can almost see an outline of some previous insignia that was there before. I know that the badge is supposed to be an early police eagle but that's all we know about it. It doesn't seem to conform to anything else that we know about visors (our knowledge is very limited in this area.)

Any ideas that you guys could throw our way would be a huge help.

Thanks,
Greg

PS. If you need more pics then I'd be happy to snap some.

[GregK]

The Side.

Here's a side view.

[GregK]

The Guts

Here's a shot of the guts. Sorry about the quality but the lighting in my house sucks.

[GregK]

Insignia

Here's a close up of the insignia on the front.

[GregK]

No Opinions?

Hello all,

No one has any ideas or opinions on this one? Good bad or otherwise? Just looking for your thoughts.

Thanks,
Greg

[Perry Floyd]

I've never seen one like that...sorry I can't help you here..

[SgtB]

If it's not what it claims to be, then I would suggest maybe Reichbahn.
I used to have a lower level Reichbahn visor cap with exactly the same
colors as this one. The band was wool and not velvet, though. It had a
zinc political style eagle above and the zinc winged wheel below. Red
piping and dark blue body with black band.

[Rick Research]

I'd agree-- the black red and dark blue are Reichsbahn. Not quite sure why the upper piping is blue rather than red, but Brad or Diane will undoubtedly know if they find this thread.

My best guess would be some sort of technical official of the Reichsbahn, not sure what the correct insignia would be...

but don't go removing what's on there on our sya so just yet!

[BadBob]

Hi Greg. Sure looks like Reichsbahn colours. Here's a collar tab I have for comparison. I looked in the Assmann catalog for the badge. There is a similar styled one in the section for 'Schutzpolizei, Kommunalpolizei, Gendarmerie'; gold would be for generals...There is also the same badge pictured twice in the 'Feuerwehr' section where they are described as 'fur Fuhrer' or 'fur Mannschaften' but without specifying whether they are gold or silver.....I wonder if the railway had their own fire department that used this badge? There's nothing similar in the Reichsbahn section of the catalog.

[Perry Floyd]

All the Reichsbahn visors I have seen have the winged wheel insigna to the front, I agree the colors look Reichsbahn but that eagle is odd, closest thing is a Polizei/fire brigade eagle and wreath..

[Rick Research]

Yup, and here's a Reichsbahn cap with "Party" style insignia being worn with that tab's style tunic in freshly occupied France, July 1940:

[Dave Kane]

Sometimes the information on the diamond provides a hint! A good clear close-up may help to clear this up...
Dave

[GregK]

Thanks so far.

Hello all,

Thanks for all the information so far. I do believe that the insignia on the front may be replaced. In fact you can almost see the outline of an eagle where the cockade is now. Looks very much like the picture that Rick posted. Perhaps a match.

As I'm away from home for the next couple of days I won't be able to post any further photos. I will take a nice clear shot of the diamond as soon as I get home and post it here. Perhaps we'll finally get to the bottom of this enigma.

Thanks again,
Greg