It has been a long time since I last went to a car boot sale, but last month I got the opportunity for the first time in many years and went off in expectation of great things. I was not disappointed and came home with some good buys, the best of which was this Royal Navy petty officer’s cap for £2:
A long time ago we covered the wartime petty officer’s cap here. This version however is the modern, post war design. It is made with a white vinyl top that is far easier to clean than the earlier canvas examples. On the front the embroidered badge has a Queen’s crown above a fouled anchor:
Sadly this badge has tarnished slightly and although I have managed to clean up the white top easily enough, I do not know an easy way to recover tarnished embroidery without risking damaging it so for now it is left like this. The badge is mounted on a black mohair band that runs around the cap, on each side are two small plastic buttons that a vinyl chin strap attaches to:
The top of the cap is actually removable, allowing it to be replaced and cleaned from time to time, looking at the underside of the cap there is a central piece of fabric that retains the shape of the cap when the cover is removed:
As is traditional, the underside of the visor is in green. This colour dates all the way back to the Victorian era where it was felt the colour would help repel the sun. It does not, but tradition means that many caps even today use this colour on the underside of their peaks. There is no sizing or date information anywhere on this cap, however it fits me with a little room to spare so my guess is that it is around a 60. Dating these caps is not easy as the design has remained virtually unchanged since the late 1960s and they are still in widespread use today.
