West German Greatcoat?

[Mister Red]

I recently acquired this item because I thought it looked really nice and haven't seen another like it. I believe it's West German, possibly late 40's, early 50's

 

[Farace]

Except for the collar, it looks an awful lot like a couple of West German Army surplus coats I used to wear in the '80s and '90s. They were readily available and quite reasonably priced from a number of surplus vendors back then.

 

[Mister Red]

Except for the collar, it looks an awful lot like a couple of West German Army surplus coats I used to wear in the '80s and '90s. They were readily available and quite reasonably priced from a number of surplus vendors back then.

Thank you for your reply. I was doing some research on Ebay and I noticed there were many West German tunics that had the same collar (the top portion was a lighter green, like the greatcoat in the pictures given).

 

[l0fielectronic]

There is one described here as a West German Forestry Greatcoat - https://www.germanmilitaria.com/Political/photos/N014376.html

A bit more on the history at https://www.forestryofthethirdreich.eu/forestry-rank-insignia

 

[Farace]

Thank you for your reply. I was doing some research on Ebay and I noticed there were many West German tunics that had the same collar (the top portion was a lighter green, like the greatcoat in the pictures given).

On the two that I had, the collar was the same wool material as the rest of the coat. Yours looks a bit more "higher rank" than mine.

 

[Doctor Damage]

It might actually be a wartime greatcoat. Post-war greatcoats, both GDR and DDR, as far as I've seen, had 10 buttons instead of 12 buttons.

 

[Mister Red]

It might actually be a wartime greatcoat. Post-war greatcoats, both GDR and DDR, as far as I've seen, had 10 buttons instead of 12 buttons.

Thanks for that bit of information. You think this is WW2? I'm trying to find some similar coats online in hopes of finding out more information but am not having much luck

 

[Mister Red]

On the two that I had, the collar was the same wool material as the rest of the coat. Yours looks a bit more "higher rank" than mine.

That would be nice if it certainly was. I would like to think that. It tapers at the waist and has a very elegant look to it when worn and buttoned up.

 

[Doctor Damage]

Thanks for that bit of information. You think this is WW2? I'm trying to find some similar coats online in hopes of finding out more information but am not having much luck

I have no idea the age of it, but as I said the number of buttons matters and strongly suggests wartime. The cuffs were used on DDR coats for several years after the war, but at some point both DDR and GDR coats had no cuffs. Good luck finding photos but I doubt you'll find anything definitive. If it's a wartime coat then it was probably something worn by a non-army person (the square ends on the half-belt are wrong for the German army, which had rounded ends) and kept mostly in a closet to be pulled out only for special events. Remember, wartime Germany was highly para-militarized and even dogcatchers had fancy uniforms (okay, I don't know about dogcatchers, but you'd be amazed at how many minor local functionaries had official dress uniforms). As with a lot of old things, you might never definitively identify it. But if it fits and you like it, then just wear it!