Germany, Third Reich. An Ah Driving Cap & Signed Photograph, C.1940

(Cabrio-Haube Hilters und Foto). A driving cap, previously referred to as AH’s Cabrio Helmet, constructed of light-brown cotton, lined with a blue cotton, with a gold-imprinted tag bearing AH’s full name, measuring, while folded, 20 cm (w) x 21 cm (h), displaying heavy soiling, name tag heavily faded, and in good condition. Accompanied by a picture postcard presenting a black-and-white photograph of people attending a German Day Rally in Hof, Bavaria in September 1923, with AH wearing a driving cap in an open-air automobile, the reverse presents unused, measuring 13.9 cm (w) x 9 cm (h), presenting slightly tattered edges, and in otherwise very fine condition. Also including, a black-and-white photograph of AH in his NSDAP uniform, signed in black ink with the message Für Steten Erinnerung (For Constant Remembrance), dated 11 February 1940, and signed by AH, reverse presents unused, maker marked Photo-Hoffmann, München, measuring 10.4 cm (w) x 14.8 cm (h), and in near mint condition.

Footnote: A similar driving cap, previously acquired by SS commander and AH bodyguard Richard Schulze-Kossens (1914-1988) through Stephen W. Blumball who acquired it from AH housekeeper Anny Brunner-Winter, was sold on Hermann Historica in 2014. Brunner-Winter was the housekeeper at AH’s private residence from 1929 to 1945 at Prinzregentenplatz 17/11. Her husband Georg Winter was AH’s private chauffeur and claimed AH gifted him the Cabrio Helmet and goggles as remembrance gifts.