Leather Kepi

 This black leather Kepi was donated.

Leather is not a material usually associated with Kepi's at least ones wanting to be historically accurate, this one, however, was purchased by Larper so the need to authentic was not as important as the look it provided.

Not a very British hat, although they were worn by male uniformed British Rail workers in 1960 to 70;s perhaps we envied French rail at the time. 

Kepi history and facts have been covered in my blog previously, so I won't add any more today other than what's above.

A robust functional leather version of a Kepi.

Green Kepi

This Kepi came out of the £5 box of a trader trying to get shut of old stock

Green Kepi like the blue seems to have been used by the Union army in the American Civil War.

 My quick bit of research says green was associated with units of sharpshooters or foragers.

Looking at photos online its seems to be a reasonable reproduction of the original caps.

French Foreign Legion Hat

This is a reproduction Kepi Hat from a ex BBC drama prop box and cost me £2

The Kepi hat is most commonly associated with the French army, french police or american civil war.

The badge, colours and style of this one as far is as I can tell make it a copy of a WWII French Foreign Legion Kepi Hat.

The term Kepi is french word which respelled from German word Kappe, which means Cap.

Union Army Cap

Union Soldiers Kepi, also called a McClellan Cap according to the Wikipedia

This hat has a square leather peak and sunken round top.

This hat was a present brought back by my Mum from the gift shop in the Abraham Lincoln Museum, when she visited Illinois in America a few weeks ago. 

The hats is not a bad quality reproduction apart from the plastic badge on the front.