LW Feld Division smock

[cvrwdvr]

My first attempt at a thread, so please forgive any errors !

Anyway, I have just acquired this LW Feld Division smock, so thought I'd show it. Got it at a vaguely affordable price (just under Euro 1500), and the condition is commensurate with that - frayed collar and cuffs, and with lengths of stitching decayed.

Nevertheless, it's in the more unusual sumpftarn, has no 'patched-up' repairs, and retains all its originally stitched buttons.


I'm planning on having the lengths of decayed stitching re-stitched professionally, especially where poorly tacked previously at some unknown stage in the garment's history.

[NZMark]

I like it a lot. A great deal of character and not a shelf queen.
Preservation wins over restoration every time. It will display very well!
Mark
NZ

[Adrian Stevenson]

Looks great.

[Kohima]

Lovely find at a good price...
Nicely marked and, as NZMark says, it will look great on a half-mannequin with a bit of kit. You can’t beat the character of a good, used example.
When you get it re-stitched, I’d wait for exactly the right thread and do insist on matching the original stitch length... collar and cuff fraying should be left as is. (Just my opinion, of course).
These are relatively flimsy garments and period damage occurred in no time!

I’m tempted to post my ‘veteran’, but this is your moment!
Well done and all the best,
Bob

[Anderson]

I would caution thinking carefully before restitching areas and other repairs, as it could effect the value, in the eyes of future buyers. It certainly looks like a jacket worn for years post war, as old uniforms were in the tight post war years.That collar is worn out from long use. I'm quite surprised the RB.Nr codes are still visible, the location code appears to be 256 indicating Berlin (actually 250-259 was Berlin). Bear in mind war time service could not have been more than 3 years and possibly less.

[Kohima]

With respect to Anderson, excessive wear on wartime garments occurred in no time. Constant and prolonged wear of the limited number of clothing items issued, quickly resulted in severe damage - particularly to collars, cuffs, elbows and knees.
Indeed, in a combat situation, most uniform items had a ‘life expectancy’ measured in months, sometimes merely weeks. With an average issue of two pairs of socks and underpants, and a couple of shirts, per year, ‘make-do and mend’ was the order of the day for the soldiers of most nations.
Somewhere, I have a copy of Yank Magazine, with a closeup of an American fighter pilot on the cover... the knitted cuffs of his A-2 jacket are in tatters (most collectors would have them replaced)!
If I can remember where the magazine is, I’ll add it to this thread.

I quite agree that any repair be very carefully considered beforehand, of course, for precisely the reason Anderson points out. Better to leave some things alone, than destroy the honesty.

Cheers,
Bob

[Anderson]

Excessive wartime wear no doubt occurred on some uniforms but not all. Plenty have survived to the present day in better condition than this one. But we a speculating on something neither if us can be sure; just when did the "excessive wear" occur? Remember the OP said there was no "patch up repairs" on it. Strange as zeltbarns were regularly patched. If I had to guess where this jacket has been for the last 70 years, it wouldn't surprise me if it was found hanging behind the door of a German farmer's shed. And was his work jacket for years. But we will never know unless the seller passed on the provenance.

[cvrwdvr]

Many thx for the feedback. I think the acquisition of a half-mannequin is going to be my next task !
Am kind of erring away from the re-stitching idea, although it was, at least in part, intended to consolidate the intact lengths of stitching that remain, and to replace untidy tacking.
Perhaps the fraying and tacking are all part of the history of the garment, no matter when they occurred. Obviously one can only speculate, but whether the wear was sustained by daily operational use; or perhaps use by a POW employed on farm work, or even post-war use by a veteran working on a building site, rebuilding a decimated country, it all adds to the history and character of the garment.