United States. A Formal Summer Army Officer's Service Visor Cap, C.1918

Fabricated from an off-white wool on the exterior, featuring the classic high peak, the hidden fabric-wrapped wire frame giving definition to the shape of the cap. There are dual white-finished metal eyelets for ventilation placed on either side on the overhang. It has a 50 mm wide band in off-white felt around its circumference. The top and bottom edges flanking the off-white felt band are trimmed in 8 mm wide strips of daffodil yellow embroidery. There is a 50 mm (w) x 52.5 mm (h) United States Army officer's cap badge in blackened bronze on the front, the cap badge bearing the Army Great Seal eagle insignia and is affixed to the cap via a screwback that is secured on the inside of the cap. The panels of the white felt band on either side are both adorned with a branch consisting of four clusters of oak leaves and acorns in rolled copper wire, the raised midribs of the leaves in a blackened static copper wire.

The stiff visor is finished in a white synthetic leather-look material on the upper, with a two-piece strap in fine brownish-colored bullion wire interlaced with light brown threading, the strap incorporating dual adjustable sliders matching the strap, running across the front between the blackened copper buttons on either side, each of the buttons bearing the Army Great Seal eagle insignia. The underside of the visor is in a forest green chequer-patterned synthetic material, the underlying framework on the sidewalls in a thatched wicker-like material. It incorporates a 43 mm wide sweatband, the upper with a reddish-brown simulated leather-look finish, the ends of which are held together via a hickory brown ribbon at the rear, the underside in a brushed fabric. The sweatband is stamped in black ink "U.S. PAT. 1,290,570" within a capsule-shaped frame on the left side. The sidewalls and dome are lined in off-white cotton, the dome with a large diamond-shaped manufacturer's label in forest green stitched in place, the label inscribed in silver-colored ink "Browning, King & Co. / Uniform Department". The cap measures 250 mm in width x 250 mm in depth x 130 mm in height, exhibiting soiling on the off-white wool top and on the off-white felt band, with mothing present on both the top and on the overhang at the rear, fraying and wear evident in the blackened static copper wire forming the raised midribs of the leaves thereby exposing the copper-colored threading, crazing in the white synthetic leather-look material on the upper, along with light wear and cracking in the sweatband. It is of very fine quality manufacture, the blackened copper cap badge remaining pristine. Fine.