Ultra-Rare WW1 NZEF Infantry 'Lemon Squeezer' Slouch Hat

[flasheart]

Gents,

You may never see another one of these.

Our New Zealand cousins comprised the other major component of the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) that landed at Gallipoli in 1915. The New Zealand Expeditionary Force was based on one Infantry Division (4 x Brigades) and a Mounted Infantry Brigade. 124,000 Kiwis enlisted out of a population of about one million, and they suffered 58% casualties.

Original WW1 lemon Squeezers are extremely rare, and in fact this is the first one I have been able to acquire. A very nice accompaniment to my five WW1 Australian Slouch Hats!

This one is an Infantry hat, marked to 40764 Private George Blakeway, 2nd Battalion, Canterbury Regiment. The WW1 'Squeezers' are recognisable by the very high peak, stitch patterns, the khaki & red infanrty puggaree, and the pre-1930s propensity for insect damage (there are some moth tracks on this hat). The hat was a contracted piece made by Stetson, who had factories in New Zealand and Australia at the time. Most WW1 squeezers were contracted items, whereas in WW2 most were made by government-owned factories.

Mike

Here is a link to another example:

http://www.aucklandmuseum.com/819/henry-herbert-gill

 

[Gustaf]

Hey Mike,
What do you think of this example, the puggaree is unfortunatly a reproduction made for me by one of Peter Jackson's costumers, it bears the insignia of the 1st Canterbury Regt and is unnamed.

When I got it, it had the puggaree of the engineers, but was about four sizes too small, and distorted the hat badly, there was no way to correct it and as I was working on an infantry display, I felt it was OK to break the set up, largely because I did not believe they belonged together in the first place.
Gus

 

[joerookery]

I have never seen one. Thanks! Made in the USA?????

 

[abukafura]

Really nice hats. These are the first ones I have seen. Interesting for me.

 

[Gustaf]

I have never seen one. Thanks! Made in the USA?????

Hey Joe,
They would have been made in New Zealand. The reason these and the Australian slouch hats are so rare is because they were worn to scraps by most of the returning vets, and like the US campain hat, they were replaced on the western front with round wash basins.
Gus

 

[Gustaf]

Hey Mike,
I agree that the Lemon Squeezer is rarer than the Australian Slouch Hat, but like the Reichswehr uniforms, they do not command the same kind of money, because more people are after the Aussie hat, and very few people even know about the Lemon Squeezer. Only a few years ago, a lot of these showed up on ebay, but most were WWII, I have to admit that I paid a very large sum for mine ($100) but was glad to find an example that would pass the examination of a friend in NZ, oddly enough, mine came out of The Netherlands.
Gus

 

[ebeeby]

What a fabulous word - "puggaree" !!

Sounds very, um, Kipling.

 

[b.loree]

These squeezers are new to me but they look quite fine. I would be proud to have one in the collection. Don't think I would go on walk about wearing it though! Brian.

 

[J.LeBrasseur]

Very cool!