Questions About the United States Navy Peacoat

[Warbaby]

The color is a medium-dark gray - the closeup of the inside of the collar is prolly the most accurate representation of the color. Also note in the last photo that the second-to-top buttonhole on the lapel has been unbound and carefully sewn shut, perhaps to de-militarize it's look. I think the original buttons have been replaced for the same reason.

 

[Trotsky]

Could be RCAF... just de-militarized. Looks like the right color. Could also be RCMP as well given the color.

Let me know if you want to sell it.

 

[BellyTank]

Yes indeed- I defer to Canadians and others in the know, now.
I retract my opinion back to;
IT is Canadian govt' issue.


B
T

 

[boushi_mania]

Found a Peacoat from c. 1950 -- now I need it fixed

Hello, everyone,

This is my first post here on the Fedora Lounge, so I suppose I ought to introduce myself. I'm boushi_mania, and I'm a 24-year-old American living and working in Osaka, Japan. I first stumbled upon this site due to a burgeoning interest in headwear during my time here (and I'll post about that soon as well), but I found the thread on Peacoat dating, and had a minor shock, so I just had to post.

Last winter, when I was still relatively new to Japan and without much money, I went to the local used clothing shop to try and find a cheap-but-decent winter coat. As luck would have it, there was an old U.S. Navy peacoat sitting on the rack that was exactly my size. The buttons had obviously been sewn back on, and one of the shoulders had been re-stitched, which the previous owner had decided to do in ugly orange thread (don't ask me why), but overall, the coat was in fantastic condition. And more importantly, it was cheap. Not wanting to pass up on such a deal, I paid for it and brought it home, suspecting that, judging by the condition it was in, it was probably about 30 years old.

I wore it a fair bit last winter, but towards the beginning of spring, the seams in the right sleeve and the back started to give out, from what I determined to be worn-out thread. But since it was the end of the season anyway, I didn't give it much thought, and stowed the coat in my closet, vowing to get it repaired once the weather started getting cold again.

Flash forward to a few minutes ago, and me perusing the aforementioned thread. Judging by the fabric, the sleeve detailing, and most importantly, the tag, I have found that the coat I bought for cheap is not only older than me, but also older than both of my parents. Not a bad find, if I do say so myself -- now I just need to get the thing fixed.

For the time being, it appears that there's a kindly old seamstress up near Tsuruhashi who believes she can do it within a month for less than 6000 yen (about $65), though I'm secretly holding my breath for her to tell me it'll cost a lot more. (She seemed quite taken with my Japanese ability, though -- maybe I can use that to bargain it down?)

So, uh... yeah. If anyone's interested, I can post some pictures once I get back home to take a few.

 

[EmergencyIan]

Welcome!

I'd like to see the Pea Coat.



- Ian

 

[boushi_mania]

Sure thing. (I apologize in advance to those with slow connections.)

Here's the coat itself. Sticking up at the very bottom is also part of my good bicycle, which I keep indoors. (The granny bike stays outside.)

The tag. Judging by the other thread, this makes it from right around 1950.

Close-up of one of the buttons. I have no idea why the person who sewed this back on settled on orange as their color of choice. Someone (perhaps another person) appears to have tried going over one of the other exposed orange bits with a black marker, but that only makes it look more pathetic.

The buttonholes actually aren't in terrible shape, though if the price is decent, I might ask to have these redone as well.

The shoulder, where again, someone tried to repair an open seam with orange thread. I'd really like to know why they'd even have that color thread.

The back seam. I'm not a big guy, so this really shouldn't happen when I stoop to tie my shoes. Of course, the thread is 60 years old or so.

Same problem with the right sleeve. I've got a decent amount of muscle, but I'm not huge enough to rip jacket sleeves in two. Normally, at least.

 

[HarpPlayerGene]

Old coats are cool. That's a nice one with character galore. It's worth saving.

G'luck with it and thanks for showing us.

 

[Peacoat]

It is impossible to know the exact year, but after 1949, and within a year or so of 1950, as you have noted, is a pretty good guess.

Peacoats from that era have a very nice finish. It is worth the money to have the repairs done. I would also have the buttonholes repaired. Congratulations on a good find.

 

[illumin8em]

Nice coat. I had one same maker, same vintage and it has been my favorite out of the three that i own. unfortunately i it was a size too big so i begrudgingly sold it.

I do not know if you have enough posts for private messaging to be available to you yet, but I have a couple questions that i think you may be able to help with given your location.

 

[EmergencyIan]

Hey, it looks pretty darn good! Once it's repaired, it would be great to see it again.


- Ian

 

[boushi_mania]

Back from the tailor!

I just got back from the tailor, so here are a few courtesy shots.

The whole thing. Please disregard any hanging laundry peeking in from the sides; it was raining yesterday.

The buttons. The orange thread is gone, replaced by a more tasteful color.

Back seam, then right arm. She pretty much re-stitched the entire jacket after she saw what shape it was in; she even redid the left arm, which wasn't actually torn when I brought it in!

And for your perusal: a quick 'n' dirty self-portrait in my grody bathroom mirror. The spots are on (or under) the glass, not the coat.

I'll do a better one, once I have someone around to take the picture for me.

The best part about the whole thing is, the lady who did the repairs charged me ¥5000 for it when other places would only fix the obviously ripped seam areas starting at ¥7000 ("hand-stitching surcharge" or similar nonsense)... and then she gave me ¥800 back when she realized how far out of my way I'd come! Guess she really needed the business.

The only things that she didn't fix this time out were the button-holes; she doesn't have the means to tackle them, but she knows someone who does, and who would probably do it for less than ¥500. She said she'd let me know after she contacted this person about it.

 

[illumin8em]

Very nice looking, this lady did a good job. From the shape and look of the pea coat, i think that I had one from the same maker but recently sold it along with another recently in hopes to get a better fit for the third try. Does the coat have any tag, maybe inside the inside breast pocket, maybe like this one?

Oh, i got your pm and will reply soon. Thanks.

 

[boushi_mania]

Very nice looking, this lady did a good job. From the shape and look of the pea coat, i think that I had one from the same maker but recently sold it along with another recently in hopes to get a better fit for the third try. Does the coat have any tag, maybe inside the inside breast pocket, maybe like this one?
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v142/illumin8em/20090827_39.jpg

Yep. It's like that, but also has instructions for dry-cleaning (which puts it at the turn of the Fifties, according to the Peacoat Dating thread).
http://i833.photobucket.com/albums/zz258/julianinjapan/Misc/IMG_2761.jpg

 

[Peacoat]

Nice job. I'm glad you had it repaired. It should last another 60 years now.

 

[Lexybeast]

This thread seemed an appropriate place to post this- just picked up this WWII (I think?) pea coat.

 

[Cooperson]

Good looking peacoat. Thanks for resurrecting this thread, I didn't know it existed - a wealth of information here!

Cheers

 

[scotrace]

Good looking peacoat. Thanks for resurrecting this thread, I didn't know it existed - a wealth of information here!

Cheers

Surely you've seen this comprehensive sticky thread?

 

[Cooperson]

Surely you've seen this comprehensive sticky thread?

Yes I'm very familiar with Peacoat's sitcky, he has also been kind enough to help me quite a few times with dating coats during my ebay searches.

It was this old thread that I hadn't seen - a lot of images no longer showing but still an interesting read.

Cheers

 

[Peacoat]

Lexi, that peacoat is in great condition if it is WWII era. Buzz Rickson has a copy, but it is patterned after an earlier model. It's called a pre--WWII peacoat, and has the 13 star buttons, unlike yours which has the later version of the buttons. If you got this on ebay, I think I saw it. I would have been very interested if it had been a 42. The seller was adamant that, even though like new, even the tag, it had come from the estate of a WWII veteran, and was the real deal.

A good find. After that first vintage peacoat you got about a year ago, I see that you are adding to your collection. A WWII peacoat is hard to find. Careful, as peacoats can be as addictive as the leather jackets!

 

[galvestonokie]

button change, pea coat

just a thought on the comments about trying to find the year in which specific changes were made. while i was not in the navy, i went through boot training in the Marines in early 1967. at that time, guys in my platoon were issued overcoats that were not the same.
i received the newer type, which was some type of worsted wool (not sure about my terminology, but it was a shiny, flat material that seemed to be a mix of synthetic and wool.
others in the same platoon (mostly small and large sizes as i recall) were issued the older type of overcoat that was thicker, warmer and of "real" appearing wool. these were a slightly different color, very different texture and more "wooly" appearing.
my point being that there may not have been a precise time/year for some of these changes. the naval services, in my case, continued to issue what they had in warehouses until they ran out.
as has been mentioned in this thread, this was a time of rapid build-up of military forces, so who knows? while some have described taking gold buttons off and hand-sewing blue/black buttons on, the differences between these 2 overcoat materials were not too obvious from a distance.
quite interesting thread, BTW.

bob