WW1 RAMC officers tunic ww1

[Harry Davey]

Hi all, I recently purchased a tunic online which was described as ''genuine ww1''. It is a late war shoulder ranked tunic with wound stripes, DSO ribbon and overseas stripes. It has the correct material and insignia so I took a chance but on receiving the item I'm not so sure it is WW1 period, the patches and ribbon look like they may have been later applied. There is no date or tailors label. I have compared it to my 1918 dated should rank tunic and it seems to lack signs of age that you would expect.

Please look at the photos and let me know what you think.

Thank you in advance.

Harry

[Watchdog]

If you mean it lacks signs of wear from use rather than signs of being over 100yrs old then that in itself is not a red flag because many officers would have had at least one service dress that never went anywhere near "the war" and remained in Britain for use when one was at home and needed to be "well turned out". If the thing lacks signs of simple age, which is hard to tell in photographs, then that might be a red flag. Hand stiching of insignia earned after the uniform was taken into use (ie not by the tailor who made it) is very common and is usually crude.

I would be more concerned by the lone ribbon. An officer who won the DSO in WWI would surely be entitled to a trio (Pip, Squeek and Wilfred) or pair (Mutt and Jeff) at least?

How does it smell?

Just my sixpenny worth.

Regards

Mark

[Harry Davey]

Hi thank you for your comment. By lack of signs of age I mean what you would expect to find on something that is 100 years old, for example it doesn't smell old . I don't believe the DSO to be original to the jacket which makes me question the patches and would stripes also. My concern is that it is more likely to be a 1920's uniform rather than WW1.

Cheers
Harry

[Rick W]

Hi Harry,
Thanks for sharing the above. It's very nice (Excellent Condition).
I like it very much and see nothing wrong with any of it .
As a late war piece , true it could be post WW1 issued but for all intensive purposes it's exactly the same thing .
Ive seen OS chevrons hand sewn the same on other pieces I have had in the past , so is not a concern to me.
Id be very happy to have it in my play room , if its stressing you out
Cheers Rick