Vintage Harley-Davidson W style, some questions

[Raul]

Hi, a friend owns what seems to be an Harley-Davidson W-style with a wonderful patina.
He asked me some more infos about it and how much could it be worth.
I am not an expert, the Tanaka book shows one of these in black steerhide, while his one seems to me a brown horsehide but I could be wrong. Were these done also in HH? Is correct dating it from the 1950s?
Any idea if it is common or rare and how much could it be worth?
The patina is great but the collar is in very bad conditions (cracked/rotted leather) making it nearly unwearable.
Here are a few pics. Thanks

 

[Monitor]

This indeed is the early Harley-Davidson cross zip though I'm not certain about the age. Could be 50's but I don't know how long in they were making these. Earliest ones had an even older Talon and the decorations were more elaborate. There's the "High quality, Fine Workmanship" tag... This is the jacket that the AMF had Brooks copy later on.

As to what it's worth... It's hard to say but I believe you would do good to list it high and be (very) patient. There are people out there specifically searching for a jacket that's showing this much wear 'cause it's something you just can't fake, so I'm sure they'd pay relatively good money for it but it might be a long process. Otherwise, as these jackets do still pop out occasionally, only in a better or often surprisingly good state, price-wise there's no use competing with them.

Also, while these were made from horse leather at some point, without a tag clearly confirming this, any speculation is pointless.

 

[jeo]

These are from the late 50’s. They were all steerhide, never horsehide. There are two versions of these late 50’s HD jackets, an earlier one that doesn’t have snaps on the top collar and then the one pictured which is later with button snaps on both top and bottom collars. These are not very rare. Prices are all over the place starting from like $150-$200 to sometimes you see the Japanese list these for $1000+ wether or not they get that amount is a different story.

 

[photo2u]

Nice jacket. I believe it is late 50's. The zip is a replacement. But the other talons are original to the jacket. Those were mainly used in the late 50's. Later in the orange labels they started to use to nice conmars and conmatics. I have both label jackets. I must agree with Jeo regarding the price.

 

[jonnyb]

Hi, your friend's jacket does appear, in the photos at least, to have been dark brown originally judging from the areas where it retains some top layer.
There are rare examples of the cycle champ in brown steerhide as well from around the same time.
The vast majority of jackets were black so brown examples are rare and interesting. Unfortunately yours has lost almost all its topcoat.
I have looked at many of these from the 50's, 60's and 70's right up till they started having them made in Korea. There are subtle changes with each iteration including a heavier weight main zip, the loss of metal spot work, slightly different linings and most obviously the evolving labels but otherwise the design remained mostly unchanged. You also can't tell a lot from the make of zipper because they switch randomly depending on what they had at the time. Talon, Conmar, Serval, Lenzip and others.
Yours seems to be the second version from the 50's with top and bottom snaps on the collar as mentioned by someone else and simple spot work on pockets and epaulettes. There is no reinforced lower back plate as later versions have but there are two back belt loops.
The earlier version from the 50's differs in that it didn't have snaps on the top collar flaps. Had more intricate four bead decorative studs on pockets and epaulettes and a single belt loop in back. It was indeed available in horsehide. I have seen an original example which still had the horsehide label attached. I remember it well because I still regret not buying it!
Cheers