An interesting officer's tunic. Your opinion PLEASE

[Michael Ryan]

Hi, A German Army HV Officer's tunic which has turned up and which I hope will arouse some interest re its originality and badging etc. Your opinions are most welcome so please feel free to comment. I have my own opinions but will not cloud the subject with either those or the suggested origins of this tunic yet. Your thoughts please.

With thanks, regards and best wishes Michael R

More pics to follow.

[Michael Ryan]

And a few more!!

[real steel]

From what I see, I don't like it. Collar,inside & out, lining style & material, color of fabrik, tabs I personally are not familiar with.

Not saying it is fake...just a non-standard design I have not seen before. Looks like it is padded for cold weather environment, maybe that's what is throwing me off in regards to the lining issue I have with it

[Michael Ryan]

Hi Steel, Thank you for your response and opinions. Like you, when I first viewed the tunic I both liked it for its quality but had severe doubts as to its heritage. The collar appeared totally out of context for the period and the colour or shade of the jacket per see, look far too pale. I did a bit of reading in Angolia's traditions uniform book only to discover that for a period, HV personnel wore air force blue/gray rather than dark green materiel as both a collar and cap band identification colour. The second colour for the shoulders also appears to be a silver/light gray whilst the collars are piped in white with dark green center stripes to the litzen. Neither the shade nor type of materiel of the jacket look consistent with a German tunic however the style looks spot on for a six rather than five button tunic. There is no, nor from what I can see, has there been any manufacturer's label.

The item hails from an apparently good UK dealer with a lot of knowledge who gives a good and logical reason for the jacket's variance from the norm. I will not say how he describes it yet so as not to colour any other comments on the tunic except to say that he gives it a 100% guarantee of authenticity.

Can I suggest that you take a look at the field service cap in my previous post as they supposedly emanate from the same source.

Thank you once again for your comments and please feel free to respond to my comments

With thanks, regards and best wishes Michael R

[real steel]

Hi Michael
I did look at your officer overseas cap. It certainly looks authentic. Though I am a little weak on hats.

I may add..nothing surprises me anymore. Seems everyday another anomaly pops up that few have knowledge on what it is. I have never heard or seen of what you show here. But I am one who sticks to basics.

You have good guarantee from a respected dealer & it is pictured in a reference book, there is probably no problem with it. Sorry I could not help you.

[Michael Ryan]

Hi Steel, Thank you for your message. It seems to me that the older I get, the less I seem to know with this stuff. As this jacket has, other than you, elicited very little interest, either pro or con, I will give you the dealer's story. Apparently it was made as a private purchase uniform in Holland presumably during the occupation?? Hence the variations in production etc. I also collect British caps and have a number made in various parts of the world where our troops have or are serving and some of them do vary from what the official patterns show. This is not to try and validate the jacket but just a fact that I have knowledge of regarding foreign made items of uniform. Real, not real who knows. quality tells me real variations lend doubt!!

I will think long and hard before I convince myself either way.

Very many thanks for taking the trouble to contact me in response to this thread. I had hoped for a more comprehensive selection of opinions but hay ho.

With thanks, regards and best wishes Michael

[kradman]

I like the tunic and I have seen the padding like this around the shoulder areas of other Dutch made tunics for the Germans , the problem with owning this tunic is when you come to sell it people only like book shown items

[Michael Ryan]

Hi Kradman, Thank you for your message. I like odd ball bits but I agree with you, convincing others is not always easy. A quick look through the excellent thread "don't tell me that they would have worn that" shows just what passed for acceptable uniform during the War but as you say, collectors tend to like and go for "book shown items" and God knows a lot of books get facts wrong!!

Thank you once again.

Regards Michael R

[Anderson]

Michael what evidence can the dealer provide for his story? Who did he get it from and was their any documentary evidence to back the story, would be my questions to him. On anything out of the ordinary I'm big on provenance. If no confirmable provenance is available, the astute buyer would discount the price he would be prepared to pay. If a deal can't be reached on that basis, you walk away. I agree with Kradman, if you ever wanted to sell it you are again faced with convincing skeptics. Mind you, a tidy example of whatever it is!

[JPhilip]

Hello,
It is a post-1941 privately purchased Dienstbluse for a Wehrmachtbeamte Offizier with the right colour for the collar.
I do like it. The stitchings seen in the interior over the shoulders were meant to retain some padding to increase the shoulders size ans look more built we'll say. it was a common practice for privately purchased tunics, and even sometimes for regulation ones when used by Officers or high rank NCOs.
Thanks