Baron Kurtz
I'll Lock Up
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This is almost certainly a Japanese-made overcoat, and probably from the late 40s or early 50s. The Inside pocket flap treatment I now know was typical of Japanese kit of the era. I bought a Japanese suit yesterday from this era, with these features (not the vertical pocket inside, though) and the stallholder (Japanese) reckons this is typical. Also, he mentions that there is no love for old clothing other than among the hipster crowd so most of grandad's stuff gets tossed out and onto the rag market. This probably explains this overcoat turning up in Canada.
Here's the (late 30s, maybe early 40s?) overcoat I showed off in the What Are You Wearing thread, laid flat. Wool (!!!) corduroy. There are no tags inside.
The coat is fully lined, and comes with two scalloped, flapped internal pockets in addition to the diagonal watch pocket above the heart. The underarm wear guards need to be sewn back on; I did it once but it didn't hold well. One of the internal buttons is a different colour (but same exact dimensions) for some unknown reason.
Detail of left-hand pockets and underarm guards. Mysterious stains on the outside of the watch pocket.
I got this coat last spring, and mysteriously, there was an old bus ticket stowed inside the pocketwatch pocket. The kicker? It was for 25 yen. This coat went to Japan before coming back to Canada, but the full story is something I can't imagine. It probably wasn't made in Japan because of world events at the time, unless it was made for a tourist who visited before the war.
