gwb123 Posted October 27, 2018 Share #1 Posted October 27, 2018 You can't always take collecting too seriously. I was at the Fort Leavenworth show a couple of years ago when I had the opportunity to visit the resident collectors shop, Overlooked Antiques & Military Surplus. If you get the opportunity to visit, the owner has a display of foreign camouflage donated by students from the Command and Staff College from their home countries. I was poking around on the shelves when I spied this gem. It looks similar to a run of the mill East German NVA hat, but on closer inspection it is decidedly different. It was made up of cloth from at least three different batches. I have no idea what the story is behind this one. It may very well have been made for the tourist market. But one reason I like it, other than its uncharacteristic sporty look for DDR headgear is the stamp (in English) "Made in East Germany". Its a good chance that this was not made for official wear, but as far as I am concerned it is just a neat piece from the Cold War that I participated in. Enjoy! http://wwiigimilitarysurplus.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwb123 Posted October 27, 2018 Author Share #2 Posted October 27, 2018 The flap band around the hat is sewn down and non functional, but yet it retains the buttons. The real surprise is in the back, with scraps sewn to fill the void between pieces. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwb123 Posted October 27, 2018 Author Share #3 Posted October 27, 2018 Whatever you think of this creation, to me this is the best part... "Made in East Germany" suggests this was meant for export. Oddly for as crazy as this thing is, the maker took care to line it. If anyone has any idea of the story behind this, I'd love to know. In the meantime it graces my shelf above my workroom as one of the oddest things I've ever seen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SARGE Posted October 27, 2018 Share #4 Posted October 27, 2018 Hey Gil, A neat cap from a neat militaria shop in Leavenworth. You never know what these guys will come up with and his military show is coming up on November 16-17, 2018 at the Leavenworth Community Center. I should put that up in the show notices now that I think about it. I know about this style of cap. After the fall of the wall all this suddenly unwanted rain pattern camouflage was sitting in warehouses. A company called "Sturm" bought DDR uniforms and camo by the ton and sold it through their German shop. In the back of the shop there were many little old ladies sitting at sewing machines re-working uniforms and camouflage into something they could sell on the retail market. They made Ike jackets out of NVA tunics, bags out of tents, and your hat out of bits and pieces. You noticed the cap is made out of several parts. I noticed that the elastic back piece is made out of a helmet cover that had an elastic band at the front holding a mosquito net. Neat! The Frankenstein creations of Sturm were sold alongside original, and unaltered, uniforms, field gear, and leather belts and holsters. You have an artifact of the time when the East German factories had closed down and many of these workers had to find new jobs... such as sewing stuff together in the back rooms of Sturm. Here is one of their distinctive white stick-on labels that seldom survived long in the US. Of course the rubber stamped "Made in East Germany" marking had a better survival rate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwb123 Posted October 27, 2018 Author Share #5 Posted October 27, 2018 Sarge, Thank you for your comments. I suspected something like this and you have very nicely filled in all of the details. The elastic in the back had me a bit baffled, so thank you for this explanation. As goofy as this thing is, it is actually very well sewn. So it follows it was someone who was accustomed to working with uniforms, fabric and patterns. It has some interesting details like the side vent holes. The only disappointment is the brim is very soft and can look a bit bit lumpy depending how you position it. The fact that it was made of authentic material during a specific period of time makes it unique to me. It's a keeper as far as I am concerned, symbolic of the chaos that took place immediately after the modern German Unification. Thanks again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Windraider Posted February 12, 2019 Share #6 Posted February 12, 2019 Hello, this "was" a field cap for the last uniform series of the GDR, the UTV fieldserviceuniform 1985-1990. Unfortunately, the cap was badly disfigured. There were other pieces of ST material attached to it, which also differ in color."Made in Germay" shows that this cap was exported after 1990, probably USA. Here is a original NVA example. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Windraider Posted February 12, 2019 Share #7 Posted February 12, 2019 more pic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RRA227 Posted February 13, 2019 Share #8 Posted February 13, 2019 Neat cap. Rich A. in Pa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riflegreen297 Posted January 7, 2020 Share #9 Posted January 7, 2020 Nice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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