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Need help identifying this kepi hat - Civil War/Indian Wars?


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Hey guys, what exactly do I have here? I'm thinking Civil War or Indian Wars era? There is a faint maker's mark on the inside of the hat, extremely faded silver writing but I believe part of it says 'New York'. The crossed cannons are artillery I assume? Any help in identification or general info about this would be appreciated. Supposedly came from the deaccession of a New England museum and that's as much as I know. Thank you!

 

 

 

post-82052-0-80075300-1400100242.jpg

post-82052-0-74237100-1400100246.jpg

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Not an expert but I'm going with theater piece. Blue is wrong, braid is wrong, and the cannon go on top, not the front. But God knows I've been wrong plenty of times...

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It looks like a French kepi to me and someone has added an eliisted mans artillery hat badge to it. Hat badges were usually worn on the front of kepis and on top of forage caps. Just because it came out of a museum, don't bet on it being 100% authentic. It's not uncommon for museums to have pieces that are pure fantasy.

Another slant on this piece is that it could be from a veterans organization or a state milita, probably post Civil Wat era.

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Not sure it's French...I fiddled with teh color/contrast/hue etc...the upper part looks like it says "XXXXXKing&Co" and below it to the right looks like "XXXXXX St.".

 

 

 

Mark sends

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Thanks a lot guys, and good eye! I believe I found the maker. Browning King & Co, out of New York. They made uniforms, hats and buttons for military and other organizations from 1860-1934 when they went out of business. Doing a little research this might be called an 1872 model kepi, and I found pictures with the red band and stitching that look nearly identical. Would this have been something worn by a soldier during the Indian Wars Era? I'm not too familiar with that time period.

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I took the picture in post #3 that shows the lining, inverted it and fiddled with the properties again...I'm 99% sure it says "Browning King and Co."

 

 

Mark sends

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I believe it is American.....could be a militia or NG....my gut says 1870s, but I do not know for sure.

 

It's a nice piece of headgear.

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Since you have shown that it is American made, and probably post Civil War, I'd say it's a state militia piece. Regular Amy kepis from the Indian Wars period are all dark blue, but state units had uniform parts in many color combinations. Lots of state militia items from that period survive and are very collectable.

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Rakkasan187

I wonder if there may be anything in an old Bannerman's Military Catalog that shows this type of headgear. Although the catalog is in black and white, there are many illustrations in the catalog. It may help to ID the time period..Just a thought..

 

Leigh

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