This past Wednesday I came home from running errands to find a package sticking out from my mailbox. I was not expecting anything, but it was addressed to me all right. The sender’s name did not look familiar. Even stranger was that the recipient’s information was on a slip of paper, taped to the front, in my handwriting. What could it possibly be? It turned out to be a long-forgotten-about gift from a customer at work!
The Army hat that never showed up
At work managing estate sales I talk with people all the time. Asking customers if they require assistance or what their interests are is part of the job, but I genuinely enjoy learning about people. In return my regular customers know of my passion for history and collecting historical memorabilia. One of them last year told me he had found a German military hat which he wanted information on. ‘No problem’, I said, ‘just bring it in the next time you see me’. Well, Chuck showed up a few times after that encounter but kept forgetting the hat.
Then came late fall. After hours at the last sale of the season, Chuck asked for my address. He wanted to mail the hat. I insisted that it was not necessary but he was adamant, so I wrote down my address. Months pass by. I thought nothing of it. Finally, it came in the mail.
Taking the package inside, I go to my sister’s room and ask to use a pair of scissors. I gently cut open one end of the package, two pieces of carboard, wrapped around in clear plastic, and pulled out the contents. A handwritten note fell out as well as something soft layered in tissue paper. Off came the paper, and I could not believe my eyes. An original German police officer’s side cap from the Second World War!
A relic from the war
The side cap belonged to a member of Nazi Germany’s Schutzpolizei. As the protection police of the Ordnungspolizei, regular uniformed police, the Schutzpolizei was generally present in urban areas and included several types of forces like town, city, traffic, flying, and waterways police.
Made of blue-green wool, the cap has hellgrün, poison green, pipping along the center of its top- the color denoting what type of police force the officer belonged to. Sewn on the front is a bevo style police insignia patch for enlisted men and non-commissioned officers. On the inside of the cap is a cotton lining, stamped with the manufacturer, a size of 57, and the production date, 1942.
Clearly the cap had seen better days. Improperly stored up in an attic, according to Chuck, who ironically found it at an estate sale, the cap was the victim of vicious moths that chewed away wool and made holes in the cloth. Still, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The cap is nonetheless historically significant and symbolic of a heartfelt gesture from a customer. It will occupy a special place in my collection.
Tip of the day: always quarantine moth ridden items before bringing them into your home. As of right now, the cap I received sits in my freezer, wrapped in a plastic bag and bound in tape, for the next week and a half. Moth larva cannot survive freezing temperatures. If not, the larva can hatch and create an infestation.
