SS visor

[enorepap]

Just for your interest: some photos of another rebanded cap that turned up in Antwerp years ago. The rebanded velvet material was also applied in segments.

Kind regards,
Gerd V

Hallo Gerd

Interesting visor. Moreover, from the image n. 45 we detect, in my humble opinion, two things:

- The rear segment has the same consistency of the rest of the band but it is sewn in a very approximate manner;
- The back of the visor must have suffered major damage, with regard to the miserable situation of the two white pipings and the way they have been repaired. The same concept applies for the upper vertical seam, reminiscent of the stitches of the medieval medicine.

I do not believe that a belgian tailor could reach such a level of neglect, nor a belgian SS officer was willing to pay and to receive it in return. So in this case, always in my personal opinion, or a self-repair of the owner or a post-war restoration of a large damage to be covered. On the other hand, the left side of the visor, despite some suspicious piping undulations, does not show such a debacle.

Marcello

[willysproject]

Hello,

It's not my intention to hijack this thread, but some more inputs on Flemish rebanded caps.
IMO, it's a misbelief that such alterations were always done by a tailor. In fact, from conversations with friend-collectors regarding Flemish collaboration, I learned that e.g. "the mother of a local Flemish NSKK-member from the city of Ghent, used to mend, and reband SS visors when she was asked this favor by some number of servicemen..." This is just one testimony I cannot prove... but just to tell you that common people didn't always had the money to have these jobs done by professional tailors...

As for the piping on my cap in post 45, here is the photo of yet another Flemish/Belgian made cap that IMO features the same kind of piping material as the 'repaired' parts of mine

Kind regards,
Gerd V

Hallo Gerd

Interesting visor. Moreover, from the image n. 45 we detect, in my humble opinion, two things:

- The rear segment has the same consistency of the rest of the band but it is sewn in a very approximate manner;
- The back of the visor must have suffered major damage, with regard to the miserable situation of the two white pipings and the way they have been repaired. The same concept applies for the upper vertical seam, reminiscent of the stitches of the medieval medicine.

I do not believe that a belgian tailor could reach such a level of neglect, nor a belgian SS officer was willing to pay and to receive it in return. So in this case, always in my personal opinion, or a self-repair of the owner or a post-war restoration of a large damage to be covered. On the other hand, the left side of the visor, despite some suspicious piping undulations, does not show such a debacle.

Marcello

[enorepap]

No problem Gerd.

Your witness is a confirmation of the fact that these modifications, repairs, etc. could also rightly be made directly by the owner, perhaps using some women help or provide, with more rough masculine hands, by themselves.

As regards to the undulations of the pipings, which sometimes are interpreted in a negative sense as real substitutions, I think that it is necessary to evaluate them case by case, as they may also have been influenced by other factors, such as the degree of humidity of the environment in which the visor has been preserved, the type of fabric, etc.

The visor you have posted the front top is at first glance very attractive.

Have you by any chance also other pictures of it?

Thanks and best regards

Marcello