One Hellovah Yard Sale Find

[Xopher]

Howdy Folks,

I thought Id share my latest yard sale find with you all. I was talking to an old fellow in his 80's and told him that I really like leather jackets around the age he was. And he turned around, disappeared into his house and tossed this little gem at me saying "It will only go to dust here". I gave him some money and trotted off admiring and playing with the zipper. Its one of those early 1930's art deco grommet zippers that Ive never gotten to see in person. Me being a little OCD and nerdy about old zippers in a way that make stamp collectors seem as exciting as base jumpers, I was thinking that I might use the zipper on a project jacket Id like to build, I mean the thing works perfectly, smoother than new zippers, but the more I looked at the jacket and cleaned it up I found myself thinking. This is one heck of a cool piece of history, its survived 80 years with all its parts, Ill just use a repro zip. The jacket is way too small for me probably a size 38, so I will most likely end up selling it though Im not sure what they are worth yet. Im just happy as a clam to have gotten to hold an original. So here it is gang an original Laskinlamb Jacket, Im guessing around 1935.

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[Superfluous]

Cool jacket

 

[AeroFan_07]

Wow, that's a collector's item there! I guess if it did fit you you would have the unusual benefit each time you wore it feeling a lot like a sheep.

 

[nick123]

Wow-o-wow!!

 

[Technonut]

Quite lucky to run across a Grizzly out-n-about nowadays (the bear would be a different story ) , especially in good overall condition. Great find!

 

[Peacoat]

That's probably the original Grizzly. Good catch.

 

[hondurasdave47]

Awesome Grizzly! Looks a lot like Himel's repro.

 

[AdeeC]

That is a great find. You should make a handsome profit selling it. I would get a competent repair done on the zipper and refresh the leather, perhaps with vaseline. Looks a little dry. Most of these old originals seem to come in smaller sizes from what I've seen..

 

[Xopher]

Does anyone know what a realistic price would be on these? I saw one for 8500 which I found laughable, and a super trashed one for 350. I'm really kind of in the dark on this one.

 

[AdeeC]

Does anyone know what a realistic price would be on these? I saw one for 8500 which I found laughable, and a super trashed one for 350. I'm really kind of in the dark on this one.

I would say between 1100 and 1800. May even go further in an auction environment.

 

[bretron]

Wow what a find!! Im guessing you've already done a few dozen backflips out of excitement

110% original IMO

In that condition (broken zipper and a few bald spots on mouton), I'd estimate $950 tops. But who knows; originals are damn rare and this one looks to be I great shape with just a few exceptions.


BIG consideration is size; 42-46 will fetch more than a 36-40

Very interested to hear from @Dinerman on this one

Oh, and don't fix squat on it. Barn fresh is wayyy better if you plan on selling. The next guy will certainly take it upon himself to do it. And you may not do it to his liking

 

[bretron]

I live for this sh*t

 

[AeroFan_07]

Interesting note on generally smaller sizes of vintage jackets. I'll share this quick story from last weekend when I toured the Iowa state captial building. At one point we entered the House of Representitives chamber in the visitors section - upstairs, when any person can go and watch proceedings. The lady leading the tour mentioned that the seats were spaced & sized for a typical male at that time (around 1880) of 5' 2" - 5' 5". This is now the typical height of a fifth grader! So obviously to us in 2016, most find the seat uncomfortably small and close. (Or perhaps more likley, they just wnated to make them uncomfortable so the public would clear out quickly )

Interesting how we've all just seemed to get larger as a people & population...

 

[handymike]

38 is a great size to sell

 

[Doctor Damage]

This is one heck of a cool piece of history, its survived 80 years with all its parts, Ill just use a repro zip.

Allow me to channel Dumpster Diver for a moment... Please don't chop up this amazing coat just because you like the zipper. That's like buying a Gullwing MB just so you can pull the hood ornament off. This reminds me of all those military button nuts who buy amazing old military coats, cut the buttons off, and discard the coats. Keep it original. Have we learned nothing from Antiques Roadshow? The old dude sold it to you figuring you'd wear the coat, not pull the zipper off. Geezuz, man. Anyways, it appears that you will try to sell it intact, but the fact that when you first saw this amazing one-of-a-kind coat the only thing you saw was the zipper... well, that's enough. /DumpsterRant

 

[Xopher]

No worries gang, all its pieces are staying together. Any thoughts otherwise were momentary giddy excitement in never having seen a zipper like that in person, which were very quickly replaced with thoughts like "Holy sh** this belongs in a museum!"...so if anybody runs or knows of a museum that may be interested its available.

 

[Cooper A-2]

congrats!
nice treasure