Man, some great info in here! Regarding steer vs HH, very generally speaking, I can now spot the tendencies/differences between the two, just like I could with these vs lamb or goat, or even Kangaroo. What this thread has confirmed in my mind at least is that a tannery can make any leather look a certain way, so it's not surprising that Horween can make CXL steer and HH have similar if not the same qualities. Heck, batch to batch, HH varies a good amount.
Regarding vintage vs modern, I dunno, so hard to compare, cameras and such were so limited in the 30s, and people always talk wax poetically about the how things were built before, but even if someone where to have found new dead stock jackets from then, 70 years is a long time.
So you factor in that, climate, and the fact that people then wore those jackets differently, meaning it was probably their only outerwear or one of a few pieces of outerwear, and life was hardier back then as well, and that people took care of the stuff better, you're just going to get a different sort of patina.
Me personally, while I find most of these patina-ed jackets beautiful, some of them are very... scrotum like and not to my taste, lol. I tend to like graining/pebbling like a well worn horse saddle, baseball glove, wallet, messenger bag, and high quality shoes, don't like it reminding of chaffing, lol. To this end, modern high quality leathers do a great job, so I guess I'm fortunate I like the look of modern stuff. I just wish I had pre-union blue collar pack his lunch pale to work 15 hour days break in my jacket for a few decades so I didn't have to deal with a jacket that stands on its own, lol.
The Sheene is quite firmly nailed on I think, just need to see, feel and try on to decide on the leather, I like the look of the tobacco badalassi although definitely going up open-minded and will decide on the day.
Aero sent me a couple of samples of their Heavy Steerhide and, having screwed it up and had a general play with it I think I prefer it to the FQHH. They sent me a brown and cordovan sample and have to say I'm about 70/30 in favour of the Hudson in cordovan steerhide. Quite impressed with how the sample appearance has changed with being rolled up and screwed up plus the colour change depending on lighting conditions.
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