WWII Panzer Officer's Hat
Hi, I am new to this site and was wondering if anyone could give me any info on an item that I have.
About 5 years ago I was at an estate auction where on old gentelman was selling some authentic civil and WWII memorabilia. One of the items was a WWII Panzer Officer's Hat which I purchased. The man selling this told me how he got it and his story was that when he was in the war his division came across a German supply caravan of some sort right around the time and place of the battle of the bulge. Everyone in his unit took some stuff and he took the hat. Now, I am aware that this is just his story and should be taken with a grain of salt. Now this is where it gets a little tricky. The hat is in brand new, perfect condition. I was told that it isn't as rare as one might think to have a Panzer hat in this condition as the men wore helmets rather than hats most of the time. I had some local antique guys take a look at it but they couldn't really give me any useful info on it. One said "if it looks too good to be true then it probably isn't real", another one took one look at it and offered me $50 for it. The emblems don't appear to be the best quality but another guy told me that toward the end of the war it wasn't uncommon to use lower grades of metal that wasn't used on anything weapon related. The coolest part for me is that there is a hand written ID tag with a man's name and division in the insert thing. I looked the name up and if the hat is real it belonged to a highly decorated man who had earned the Knight's Cross. I know that this can easily be faked but the paper and ink look to be aged quite a bit. I can email pictures to anyone interested in looking at it. But what I would like to know is how in the world do I go about finding out if this is a real hat or just a reproduction where someone took the time to make an ID tag that looks old and has a highly decorated German Officers name on it?
Thanks for all of your help
Chad
About 5 years ago I was at an estate auction where on old gentelman was selling some authentic civil and WWII memorabilia. One of the items was a WWII Panzer Officer's Hat which I purchased. The man selling this told me how he got it and his story was that when he was in the war his division came across a German supply caravan of some sort right around the time and place of the battle of the bulge. Everyone in his unit took some stuff and he took the hat. Now, I am aware that this is just his story and should be taken with a grain of salt. Now this is where it gets a little tricky. The hat is in brand new, perfect condition. I was told that it isn't as rare as one might think to have a Panzer hat in this condition as the men wore helmets rather than hats most of the time. I had some local antique guys take a look at it but they couldn't really give me any useful info on it. One said "if it looks too good to be true then it probably isn't real", another one took one look at it and offered me $50 for it. The emblems don't appear to be the best quality but another guy told me that toward the end of the war it wasn't uncommon to use lower grades of metal that wasn't used on anything weapon related. The coolest part for me is that there is a hand written ID tag with a man's name and division in the insert thing. I looked the name up and if the hat is real it belonged to a highly decorated man who had earned the Knight's Cross. I know that this can easily be faked but the paper and ink look to be aged quite a bit. I can email pictures to anyone interested in looking at it. But what I would like to know is how in the world do I go about finding out if this is a real hat or just a reproduction where someone took the time to make an ID tag that looks old and has a highly decorated German Officers name on it?
Thanks for all of your help
Chad
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lorrainski........interesting story. One way to tell if the hat that you have is the real thing is to put it under a black light to see if the sewing is the real deal and not synthetic (meaning fake). Actually, German panzer units were very proud of their hats and usually wore them into combat and did not wear helmets for, think of it, they were behind some of the best armor in the world! Anyway, metal helmets in a tank were too cumbersome...our tankers wore leather just for that reason. Couple of questions...what unit was the US vet in? What German unit is on the hand written tag? What are the "emblems" you mention? Who was the German panzer officer? Send me an email and I will be glad to look at it for you and give you MO. 0 -
Blacklight is good idea,most high ranking officers never served in a Tank.If a officer he would have a radio headset to keep in touch with his men which would leave marks on the Hat if used at all. I would like to see some more pictures to see if it looks like mine. fish022354@ksbroadband.net 0
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