Help needed with stone grey Württemberg greatcoat / Mantel

[tubist73]

Hello experts out there,

I've had this B.A.XIII Württemberg marked greatcoat for a while now but would like to narrow down exactly which type it is? It was sold as a M1912 Mantel für Berittene but there seem to be very few references out there that I can find. From some of the minor modifications I'm assuming it was also used post-war, probably civilian, which makes it more difficult to be exact on the details. The coat is stone grey with matching collar, rather than field grey, and has a white lining. The stamp is pretty clear except for the last number of the date - with a little water it seems to be 1914.

Despite the modifications and a couple of repairs, the condition is very good and I'm considering restoring it to its original configuration - but what would that have looked like?

Any opinions would really be appreciated.

Matthew

Matthew

[Kohima]

As far as I can tell, it seems to be the M1907 standard issue mantel. However, there is, as you say, a distinct paucity of reference material regarding the pre-war uniforms - particularly items as ‘dull’ as the greatcoat (typically underrated garments for most nationalities). Please don’t take my identification as gospel - I’m happy to be corrected!

For this, if my identification is correct, you will need either sew-on/in, or the so-called ‘slip-on’ Schulterklappen (hard to find), of an appropriate XIII Corps regiment, of course, (e.g: 119-125 & 127 Infantry), with Corps piping - in this case, poppy-red.
There would also be coloured collar patches, though these appear to be frequently omitted on later production coats, and if there is no trace on your example, I would leave them off.
The buttons appear to be the correct, plain type of the M1907.

Finding specific regimental Schulterklappen is always going to be tricky.. especially of pre-war type! Good luck!

By the way, wetting a date stamp is not really to be recommended, as it eventually washes out the remaining ink.