Vintage Cal - It's changing my outlook on things

[photo2u]

Star Glove. Cmon!! Look at this beauty. Next level.

View attachment 377339

What a beauty. I have never seen this before. JMax, do you own this one? What a jacket!

 

[photo2u]

thanks for sharing! haven't seen this one before with the piping and the shape of the coin pockets. how's the back looking like?

If the crown #10 is original to the jacket. Then it is early 40?

 

[JMax]

What a beauty. I have never seen this before. JMax, do you own this one? What a jacket!

I wish. Amazing right?!? Afraid only House of Lannister can afford it, original or modern repro. It is a really cool jacket. Maybe one day. Need to sell a whole bunch of jackets tho.

 

[photo2u]

I wish. Amazing right?!? Afraid only House of Lannister can afford it, original or modern repro. It is a really cool jacket. Maybe one day. Need to sell a whole bunch of jackets tho.

You right. If the zip is original to the jacket, it proves how ahead of the game the company was. Frankly speaking, the zip is one of my favorites. It reminds me of a tank. It is no surprise that after 70+ years of its creations there are still working.

 

[tmitchell59]

Gotta be 30s, early 40s. I’ve never been able to find much on SG. I’ve tried. Maybe @jonbuilder has some more info- he has a bunch of SG and is my jacket hero lol.

Late 40s/50s and onward Cal focused on LAPDs and straight zip CHPs for police. Too bad really. This jacket is a stunner. Cal does do a modern repro. It’ll only set you back $3,000. Not for mere plebs.

The Front pocket arrangement is eye catching. Looks to have the same early wool lining, the leather looks superb.

 

[JMax]

Another cool Star Glove—

 

[JMax]

And another—

 

[jonbuilder]

One indication of age for Star Glove is the Sring loaded Crown zip with two-way symmetrical teeth only became available to civilian jackets after the end of WWII. I am basing this on dinnermens' zip dating thread. So I date the two Star Gloves I own with this type of Crown zips to be 1945 - 1947 when Star glove evolved into Cal Leathers. My cross zip SG with the paper clip Tanon zip could be earlier.
From what I can see on my computer screen its' zip is two-way symmetrical teeth zip, which per dinnermens, research dates it 1945 or later. Without a label, it could have been made after the transformation to Cal Leather sometime in 1947.
no matter very few more desirable jackets appear on the market that working men raising families can afford IMO

 

[jonbuilder]

Gotta be 30s, early 40s. I’ve never been able to find much on SG. I’ve tried. Maybe @jonbuilder has some more info- he has a bunch of SG and is my jacket hero lol.

Late 40s/50s and onward Cal focused on LAPDs and straight zip CHPs for police. Too bad really. This jacket is a stunner. Cal does do a modern repro. It’ll only set you back $3,000. Not for mere plebs.

about the price of a Himel.

 

[jonbuilder]

Star Glove. Cmon!! Look at this beauty. Next level.

View attachment 377339

@JMax where did you come across this Jacket
A jacket like this could cost me to start digging up the back yard for the hidden stash

 

[Leather Walker]

Star Glove. Cmon!! Look at this beauty. Next level.

View attachment 377339

Another SG from the same period, one front coin-pocket.

 

[JMax]

@JMax where did you come across this Jacket
A jacket like this could cost me to start digging up the back yard for the hidden stash

Online search led me to Pinterest. Also, it was on Cal social media. If it was on eBay, Etsy, whatever, you would have seen it on the what jacket do you have coming thread.

 

[TooManyHatsOnlyOneHead]

One indication of age for Star Glove is the Sring loaded Crown zip with two-way symmetrical teeth only became available to civilian jackets after the end of WWII. I am basing this on dinnermens' zip dating thread. So I date the two Star Gloves I own with this type of Crown zips to be 1945 - 1947 when Star glove evolved into Cal Leathers. My cross zip SG with the paper clip Tanon zip could be earlier.
From what I can see on my computer screen its' zip is two-way symmetrical teeth zip, which per dinnermens, research dates it 1945 or later. Without a label, it could have been made after the transformation to Cal Leather sometime in 1947.
no matter very few more desirable jackets appear on the market that working men raising families can afford IMO

spot on I think. It's somewhere in one of my posts, but I believe Star Glove was rebranded to Cal Leathers in 1948 after they got the LAPD contract. I'd have to confirm this, but it's pretty safe bet that any Star Glove you see is going to be pre 1948 and the bulk of them are probably 46-48 since that's when the new owners took over (after coming back from war) and got more into jackets.

 

[Will Zach]

There is one in Japan for around 4 grand. Not as cool as the one @JMax found, though.

https://www.wicked1996.com/SHOP/ns00709.html

 

[Bahabp100]

I'd say it was made in 60s, IMO. As an example, belt loops of 50s Cals usually have a rounded tip around the snap, not squared. I don't know the concrete time when the company made these kinds of changes in their patterns, we may assume all of them happen over the time subtly. Beautiful Cal in pristine condition! No epaulettes nor gussets, which are more of 1960s features. This jacket reminds me of my non-padded Cal, with ring pulls at pockets, Serval at front but Talon at cuffs. It doesn't have gussets, either. And judging by the hide of your Cal, I'll bet the touch feeling is the same as in mine.

So with squared belt loops (50s were rounded), no back gussets, no epaulettes, thick horse hide, and Serval zips, would an educated guesstimate be early 1960’s? In later 60s -70s changes included added gussets epaulettes, and different zips? These features were added slowly slightly changing the original design over time?

View attachment 377944

any info that anyone can provide is much appreciated
View attachment 377944
Edited to add “70s” and add front picture and clarify my questions

 

[JMax]

So with squared belt loops (50s were rounded) , no back gussets, no epaulettes, thick horse hide, and Serval zips, would an educated guesstimate be early 1960’s? In later 60s and into the 70s some changes included added gussets epaulettes, and different zips : these features were added slightly changing the design ?

any info that anyone can provide is much appreciated
View attachment 377935 View attachment 377936

First off, stunning Cal with all the accouterments. IMO, best way to date is to focus on label, hide, and hardware. There was too much customization between police departments, individual police, and civilians. Gussets, epaulettes, etc., are seen on jackets across the entire timeline.

 

[Bahabp100]

First off, stunning Cal with all the accouterments. IMO, best way to date is to focus on label, hide, and hardware. There was too much customization between police departments, individual police, and civilians. Gussets, epaulettes, etc., are seen on jackets across the entire timeline.

No Labels . Faint handwritten size inside pocket thick black horsehide . Serval zips see pictures above . Did they make a lot with no makers label?

 

[JMax]

No Labels . Faint handwritten size inside pocket thick black horsehide . Serval zips see pictures above . Did they make a lot with no makers label?

Lots. No labels or other labels. I had a super early Cal with a Louis the Tailor label. JB, TooMany and LeatherWalker nailed it on your jacket. They have lots of Cal experience and TooMany has even infiltrated the store on behalf of TFL. Our inside man so to speak. If you haven’t bought this Cal, you should. It’s a beauty. You will be very happy with it.

 

[JMax]

Star Glove. These pics make me want to keep it.

 

[jonbuilder]

Another SG from the same period, one front coin-pocket.

I have the same maie zip on one of my cross zip SGs