Presented here, thanks to member Chief82 who sold me this, is a rather unusual cap, the likes of which I have never encountered before. it is a schirmmutze for an NCO of the Schutzpolizei d. Gemeinden, or small town municipal police. What makes it unusual is that it was manufactured in occupied Holland under contract to a Dutch company. It has some unusual characteristics, but is made to German specifications and on first sight cannot be distinguished from a German made cap.
Here is a frontal view. The piping color is a deep carmine, not "pink" enough to represent a Feuerschutzpolizei assignment. Interestingly the state ****ade is made of brass, not aluminum and has a high gloss enamelled cardboard red insert rather than the typical felt.
The cap has a high, nice heavily padded front and pronounced saddle form. An attractively made cap.
Here is a side view better showing off the "saddle-form" shape. The matte aluminum buttons are also unusual as such a cap would normally be fitted with black paited buttons. The police eagle also appears to be thinner than those I am used to encountering, perhaps because of foreign manufacture. The cap appears to have never been worn, and all insignia and the side buttons are original to the cap as produced.
Here is a view of the interior. Exactly what one would expect of a "contract" mass produced cap. Orange generic interior and sweatband with no maker mark, only a size stamp. The unusual features are the green painted underside of the brim and a brass stud closing the sweatband rather than a sewn ribbon. The sweatshield is celluloid, and appears to have never been subjected to wear.
Now a view of the "inside". The brass pins from the front eagle can clearly be seen. There are no "extra" holes and all sewing is very tight suggesting that this cap is in original condition, and has not been "worked" on or had it's insignia changed.
Take note of the round ink stamp which will become very important shortly.
And finally a close-up of the round maker's ink stamp. This is where the unique nature of the cap becomes evident. The stamp identifies the maker as "MOL" in "Breda, Holland". This is a known maker of Dutch military uniforms and caps.
What appears to be happening here is that this cap was contracted for with the firm of MOL during the occupation of Holland by a small municipality, probably trying to save money by "outsourcing". Clearly the contract specified that the cap meet German specification and regulations, rather than buying an "off the shelf" Dutch alternative. The GemPo were uniformed by their respective towns not a centralized depot system so it is not hard to imagine a city administration trying to save by buying in the "greater reich" rather than a German maker.
The GemPo were absorbed into the Schutzpolizei sometime around 1942, so this cap probably survived unused as it sat in a box in some city hall unused until it's liberation. As I have never seen another Dutch made police cap, I must assume that this was NOT a standard practice, and that this cap and any of its breathern out there were limited to a very small number, possibly from only a single unknown small town. I think it fair to term this cap "rare".
