Schott 50's one star from ebay, could use advices on this problem

[Monitor]

With all due respect, you can't be serious?

Why not? If anyone tried to take (steal) my jacket, I'd just call the police and then sue them afterwards. Even if they don't end up in jail, they would have to pay a lot of money for all the legal crap and they'd never try to steal another jacket ever again.
People are wearing Sons of Anarchy cutoffs in the street. I see people on bikes wear it! It's all a joke. Or rather, it always was. Who can even afford a Harley nowadays, anyway? Lawyers and dentists and CEO's. Certainly not outlaws, to use the term that doesn't even translate to anything anymore. All the Angles that I knew were filthy rich. They'd smuggle a crappy cold war rusted Tokarev that probably didn't even work anymore once a year, just to justify their stupid club membership and spend the rest of the time bragging about. Tough guys.

Those days are over forever... At least in Europe. And yeah, @Will Zach is right, I am talking about European MC chapters though I hear things elsewhere aren't that much different.

 

[roadking04]

I am sure the European chapters TCB also. It's easy to tell the guy to keep the jacket. Nothing to worry about. Just sue them if they knock your teeth out and take your jacket. Let's get serious.

 

[Seb Lucas]

Why not? If anyone tried to take (steal) my jacket, I'd just call the police and then sue them afterwards. Even if they don't end up in jail, they would have to pay a lot of money for all the legal crap and they'd never try to steal another jacket ever again.
People are wearing Sons of Anarchy cutoffs in the street. I see people on bikes wear it! It's all a joke. Or rather, it always was. Who can even afford a Harley nowadays, anyway? Lawyers and dentists and CEO's. Certainly not outlaws, to use the term that doesn't even translate to anything anymore. All the Angles that I knew were filthy rich. They'd smuggle a crappy cold war rusted Tokarev that probably didn't even work anymore once a year, just to justify their stupid club membership and spend the rest of the time bragging about. Tough guys.

Those days are over forever... At least in Europe. And yeah, @Will Zach is right, I am talking about European MC chapters though I hear things elsewhere aren't that much different.

That's totally wrong for what happens here. I have experiences with two bike gangs here in town. The clubs here are in charge of manufacture and distribution of various illicit substances (meth, MDMA, GHB) and provide 'security' services. The clubs make a lot of money and the police - in my experience - avoid getting involved and will advise you to not piss them off as they have limited capacity to help. If you were caught with that jacket here, you would be lucky to be able to walk away and it is likely that police would do as little as possible to help you.

 

[Will Zach]

^^
Right. And in the US, on top of that, we seem to be hell-bent on defunding the police, so they would probably laugh and tell you to take a hike. It is back to Wild West over here.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Same here in several regions of the US Seb. The HA should not be taken lightly or made fun of.

 

[roadking04]

RockSolid asked for serious advise. The Hells Angels are very serious about their patch. Why pay 2k and ask for a potentially very serious problem.

Club politics aside, how serious would a grown man look in a FAKE Hells Angels jacket?

 

[El Marro]

The Hells Angels are not nearly as visible around here as they used to be when I was young but I still wouldn’t want anything to do with them. Also, they have really good lawyers!

 

[navetsea]

how much do you like that jacket, if it is something you really like and you believe you might not find another in your size in the condition, etc.
then fix it, it is just a faded outline, like it has been scratched by a sewing chalk or like someone said wax, and it is just chrome tanned hide with black paint on top, maybe it just alters the glossiness of the leather on the line, that's why it only showed with unnatural lighting, maybe it doesn't reflect neon light as much as the non scratched parts, you certainly can redye manually with sponge and to obscure the shape too

(at worst if nothing else works) nothing a mist of airbrush can't heal.

 

[antoine p]

I'm no expert, and someone here may say this is not possible... but perhaps you could bring the jacket to a leather specialist who knows what they're doing and have them re-dye the entire jacket.
I recently did this with an early 60's G-1. I'm not sure what happened to it, as the jacket was new to me, but I noticed small thin white 1" long streaks here and there in the grain of the goatskin upon receipt. I guess this can come from over-conditioning. Very good condition apart from this flaw- I sent the jacket out to a TFL approved leather repair shop and had it re-dyed, I'm really happy with the result.
Before sending it out I attempted to clean it up myself, but after the gentle stuff didn't work I had to admit to myself that I didn't feel confident enough to bring out the big guns against the leather.
It's a bit of a shame, but I wasn't too beat up about going over the original 60's finish. I didn't pay too much for the jacket, and it's not as rare as what you've got.
If you are in love with the jacket and don't want to let go, I would consider a professional re-dye. Use the seller's refund money to finance it, and find the best shop available to you. Don't settle for less. It may be reachable by post only. Make sure they have extensive experience with vintage leather items.
If you're not deeply fond of the jacket, you have more then enough grounds to file a claim for a full refund with eBay.

 

[Peacoat]

Don't know about European Hells Angels, but in this country, they are real and can cause serious problems. Normally they fly under the radar, though.

I'm a member of the Blue Knights motorcycle club (LEO). Back about 20 years ago our president had conversations with the HA president as he knew the HA might take offense at another club coming onto their "turf." The HA president was cool with everything except the fact that our colors had the word Tennessee incorporated into the design in the bottom rocker. Our president was told that the HA had already claimed the State, and had the name in their colors, so we couldn't use it.

We were warned by our president that our wearing our colors might cause problems, and that the HA might try and take our colors away from us by force. He cautioned us to always not only be armed, but to have the weapon easily accessible if needed. The problem wouldn't arise as we were riding as a group, but when we were individually on the way to the meet.

We never heard anymore about it, but it is probably still there bubbling under the surface.

So, yes, in this country the HA can be a real factor.

 

[handymike]

I would contact the seller, and I’d return it (in proper packaging). If the seller didn’t disclose this then you are fully in your rights to get a full refund. I wouldn’t keep the writing...Too much bad juju for me. I try to stay away from items that I feel might have weird/ negative history.

 

[RockSolid]

Hello everybody and thanks a lot for all the replies / help i received

I know it is probably the dumbest decision ever, and most of you will agree and adviced against it, but i decided to keep it, i felt like sending it back would break my heart
I have been thinking a lot about it, could not get it out of my mind and today i accepted the partial refund
Also searched the web to see if it was possible to find another and i found only one posted here more than one year ago, sadly it is not in a condition as good as the one i bought, the guy is asking more than 2000 pounds and it is a bigger size

I will have to get rid of this thing on the back, first i'm not a poser and second i don't want to get beaten to death and have my jacket stolen
I have been contacting a few professionals as suggested here and they said they can probably make it disappear, re-dye it might be the way to go, i will search for the best possible society to get to job done, hopefully there are some in Paris
I found a few fixes with acetone or alcohol but i don't really want to put these products on my jacket, i tried heating it gently but it didn't work, i cleaned it with saddle soap and applied pecard too
So far the marking faded a bit but are still there

Not wearing it for a while won't be a problem since i already have too much jackets including 2 Schott horween that just arrived

 

[Carlos840]

Hello everybody and thanks a lot for all the replies / help i received

I know it is probably the dumbest decision ever, and most of you will agree and adviced against it, but i decided to keep it, i felt like sending it back would break my heart
I have been thinking a lot about it, could not get it out of my mind and today i accepted the partial refund
Also searched the web to see if it was possible to find another and i found only one posted here more than one year ago, sadly it is not in a condition as good as the one i bought, the guy is asking more than 2000 pounds and it is a bigger size

I will have to get rid of this thing on the back, first i'm not a poser and second i don't want to get beaten to death and have my jacket stolen
I have been contacting a few professionals as suggested here and they said they can probably make it disappear, re-dye it might be the way to go, i will search for the best possible society to get to job done, hopefully there are some in Paris
I found a few fixes with acetone or alcohol but i don't really want to put these products on my jacket, i tried heating it gently but it didn't work, i cleaned it with saddle soap and applied pecard too
So far the marking faded a bit but are still there

Not wearing it for a while won't be a problem since i already have too much jackets including 2 Schott horween that just arrived

These guys are the official Vanson repair shop in Europe, might be worth asking them:

El Paso Booty
Attn: Albert
79, rue Saint Denis
75001 Paris
France
Tel: +33 1 42.33.42.07

 

[RockSolid]

These guys are the official Vanson repair shop in Europe, might be worth asking them:

El Paso Booty
Attn: Albert
79, rue Saint Denis
75001 Paris
France
Tel: +33 1 42.33.42.07

Just sent them a message, if they don't answer i'll call, thanks you very much

 

[Will Zach]

Hello everybody and thanks a lot for all the replies / help i received

I know it is probably the dumbest decision ever, and most of you will agree and adviced against it, but i decided to keep it, i felt like sending it back would break my heart
I have been thinking a lot about it, could not get it out of my mind and today i accepted the partial refund
Also searched the web to see if it was possible to find another and i found only one posted here more than one year ago, sadly it is not in a condition as good as the one i bought, the guy is asking more than 2000 pounds and it is a bigger size

I will have to get rid of this thing on the back, first i'm not a poser and second i don't want to get beaten to death and have my jacket stolen
I have been contacting a few professionals as suggested here and they said they can probably make it disappear, re-dye it might be the way to go, i will search for the best possible society to get to job done, hopefully there are some in Paris
I found a few fixes with acetone or alcohol but i don't really want to put these products on my jacket, i tried heating it gently but it didn't work, i cleaned it with saddle soap and applied pecard too
So far the marking faded a bit but are still there

Not wearing it for a while won't be a problem since i already have too much jackets including 2 Schott horween that just arrived

Not a dumb decision at all if you love the jacket. I hope you find somebody who can remove or mask the lettering. We have a few experts stateside, but shipping/duty might be prohibitive. Better to explore EU first.