Kriegsmarine Matrosenmutze Cap with Gneisenau Ribbon.

[smiler]

Hiya,

Here is a nice worn one piece cap, the interior faintly makerd Kiel Aug Geige? pretty hard to make out. Both ribbons have some slight wear and tare, the gold wire on the Gneisenau ribbon is pretty faded but the woven gold wire on the reverse still looks very nice.

cheers.

[Gordon Williamson]

Can you tell what the stiffening material is around the hat band. It should be visible if you just turn down the sweatband as there isn't normally any "lining" as such inside the body of the cap.

On issue caps the stiffener is usually an opaque celluloid material. Issue caps also have a removeable top.

THis looks like a private purchase cap however, so may have a fixed top.

The maker is August Geiger. Problem here is that Geiger remained in business after the war and made the same caps for the Bundesmarine, so it can be tricky with Geiger made caps determining which are wartime and which are early Bundesmarine. For this reason particularly I always prefer issue sailors caps rather than private purchase pieces.

The Gneisenau cap ribbon is definitely good though, nice ribbon and relatively scarce.

[smiler]

Thanks for the reply Gordon, i have enclosed a scan of the stiffener which as you can see is quite brittle which has split a little at the front and back. As to what it is made from i am not sure, maybe you can tell from the pic.

cheers.

[Gordon Williamson]

This at least looks good. Postwar Bundesmarine caps normally have cardboard stiffeners.

The material on this cap is similar to that used as stiffeners on many original Kriegsmarine officers peaked caps, though its normally white rather than black . Its a type of buckram material impregnated with some sort of glue to stiffen it.

I haven't encountered this on any postwar caps yet. Maybe Michel can comment.

[smiler]

Thanks Gordon, i can definitely see that some kind of glue has been applied to it. I am leaning towards it being pre-war as it came with some other personal items.

cheers.

This at least looks good. Postwar Bundesmarine caps normally have cardboard stiffeners.

The material on this cap is similar to that used as stiffeners on many original Kriegsmarine officers peaked caps, though its normally white rather than black . Its a type of buckram material impregnated with some sort of glue to stiffen it.

I haven't encountered this on any postwar caps yet. Maybe Michel can comment.