It is interesting to note that both this, and the added cap, have the same thumbprint on the visor left by the maker.






  Note the use of painted canvas for the keepers on both chin straps



  This is a cap just like it sold in 2013


  This cap is identical except for the liner


  Description of this second example above

This Confederate Cap is as beautiful as you will ever see. The condition is stellar. The condition is stellar because it was not worn long; someone picked it up on the Bull Run battlefield and saved it in 1861.

I know this because there is a 1 by .40 inch cotton panel, serving as a label, sewn to the inner side of the front of the hat band. When examined under a .750x binocular microscope it can be readily seen that the label reads:

"Bull Run”, below that, not as clearly, I decerned that it read "July”. July is followed more clearly by 1861. While every bit of the original ink is not legible, after examining it under the microscope, I am confident that the full inscription reads: "Bull run”, over "July 1861”

The Cap is made of brown, wool/cotton woof and warp. It is lined with brown satinet. The cap is 3.25 inches tall at the front. The caps body uses three piece construction, plus the crown. The crown measures 5.25 inches in diameter. The inner crown is made of cardboard, covered with painted canvas. There is a 1.5 inch pressed, russet leather sweatband, with the original stitching intact. The two piece leather sweatband is bound with painted canvas in a beaded edge. The South Carolina buttons adorning the sides have been resewn, and may, or may not be original, but it would be very difficult to find two "Schuyler H &G NY” South Carolina Palmetto buttons that looked so much alike in wear and patina. So they are probably original to the cap, but it is impossible to be certain. No other work has been done to it; all other stitching is original.

Its originality and fine condition make it worthy of the finest collection, and it has a direct link to one of the most important battles of the War Between the States.

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