Extremely Rare 1920s Graf Zeppelin Flight Crew Hat (w/Tails) for Ranking Member

ARTIFACT: This hat is extremely rare. Graf Zeppelin Officer/Pilot hats show up on rare occasion, but I have never seen crew members hats. We have one hat listed with tails, and one without (both sold separately). The Graf Zeppelin was LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin (Deutsches Luftschiff Zeppelin #127; Registration: D-LZ 127). In keeping with the nautical theme of an "Airship" , this crew member hat mimics the "Donald Duck" cap worn by military and civil enlisted rank crew members of the period. The hat is made of the highest quality beaver felt, with a high quality silk liner and leather sweatband. The makers name is barely visible, and is pictured above. The silk band or tally on the hat is woven and reads Graf Zeppelin with a beautiful image of a silver zeppelin at center superimposed on a crowned orange oval. There are tails hanging from the rear of this cap with bevo-woven insignia at the ends. The other hat that we have listed (please see the link at the bottom of this page for information on the other hat) has no tails, and instead has a small gilt brass badge on it, presumably denoting rank. It is quite possible that both caps represent a crew member of rank, with just a change in regulations removing the bothersome tails from the back of the hat and replacing them with the small rank insignia present on this cap. Very little is known about "Enlisted rank" Zeppelin Crew uniform insignia, especially in this pre-Nazi period. These may be the only 2 of these hats we will ever see. The LZ 127 was christened "Graf Zeppelin" by Countess Brandenstein-Zeppelin in July 1928, the 90th anniversary of the birth of her father Ferdinand von Zeppelin (1838-1917).[8] The Zeppelin Company had originally planned to charter the LZ 127 to a Spanish company to carry mail from Seville in Spain to Buenos Aires, Argentina. A contract was signed just before the first flight of the airship with the intention to carry out test flights between Spain and Argentina in 1929.[9] The Graf's operational career spanned almost nine years from its first flight in September 1928 until its last in June 1937. During that period it was operated first by the Zeppelin Company's commercial flight arm, the Deutsche Luftschiffahrts-Aktiengesellschaft ("German Airship Travel Corporation") or "DELAG" in conjunction with the Hamburg-American Line (HAPAG), and for its final two years by the Deutsche Zeppelin Reederei GmbH (DZR), a company established by Hermann Gšring in March 1935 to increase Nazi party influence over Zeppelin operations.[10] The DZR was jointly owned by the Luftschiffbau Zeppelin, the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (German Air Ministry), and Deutsche Lufthansa A.G., Germany's national airline at that time.

VINTAGE: Circa late 1920s.

SIZE: Approximate size 6-7; tails approximately 11" long.

MATERIALS / CONSTRUCTION: Beaver felt, silk embroidery, leather, silk, bevo weave, muslin.

ATTACHMENT: None.

MARKINGS: Hard to discern maker's information (HEINRICH ? HEIDELBERG...).

ITEM NOTES: This is from a civil aviation collection which we will be listing more of over the next few months. CON-JMB-50-VCBJX12 LCHEJX2/12 SLAIGEX12/13 SAFEJX5/14

CONDITION: 8- (Very Fine-Excellent): The cap is in wonderful shape with some light wear primarily to the inside and to the tails.