1st model BGS "Ike" jacket

[malborghetto]

Hello,
another piece of my collection for you to show.
First modell BGS "Ike" jacket. Think they are not seen very often.





Regards, Christian

[Collectinsteve]

That is a beautiful jacket!! I've been trying to find one of these for a very, very long time. I've never seen one on eBay and none of my contacts have ever come upon one to sell.

It looks like the arm badge isn't original? It looks like one of the later types from the 1970s on. I thought the original badge was the same used throughout the 1950s and well into the 1960s.

And that is an original 1950s GJ jacket behind it? You need to show us pictures of that one! I won't even say please because you have teased us, therefore you have no choice. Those are the rules, I don't make them (OK, I did this particular rule, but please show us some more pictures anyway ).

Steve

[malborghetto]

The original patch is missing. Fixed this one with two needles as long as i become an other one.
Here are more pics of the patch and inside of jacket.





Regards, Christian

[Collectinsteve]

I think I have a spare badge that is correct for this uniform, but I am not 100% sure. Do you know for sure what badge is supposed to be on this jacket?

Steve

[Gordon Craig]

Christian,

Very nice early BGS tunic. Thanks very much for posting these interesting fotos of the exterior and interior. Looks like lots of nice things behind the two short tunics.

Regards,

Gordon

[malborghetto]

Here some pictures from an album of an early BGS member. Photos taken in 1951/52 and shows first model uniform in wear.

Regards, Christian

[Gene T]

It's interesting to compare Christian's tunic to the one Klaus had posted a while ago:

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...d.php?t=378020

There are some obvious differences in the button tab arrangement inside the waist band, notably the two extra tabs on the front of Christian's tunic, which were presumably designed to mate with corresponding buttons on the matching trousers. However, no such buttons are evident on the trousers Klaus had posted, and the three period photos above show at least two types of trousers being worn side by side, one of which bears some resemblance with the war-time Keilhose, while the other may or may not have had a fob pocket installed (Klaus' example does have one, although it's positioned higher than on the "Keilhose").

Like Klaus' tunic, Christian's also does not appear to have provisions for belt hooks. The first two period photos clearly show that these hooks were either directly sewn to the front of the waist band, or attached in a way that allowed them to pierce through the latter; either of these methods would have left obvious marks behind.

Taken together, one gets the impression that there were several sub-types of this early tunic (and accompanying trousers) in existence, which either represented a linear effort to refine the design, or were the product of contractor-related manufacturing variances.

And speaking of variances - the man to the viewer's right in the second period photo was wearing a tunic with badly misaligned pockets (it's too salient to be an optical illusion). Clearly, manufacturing quality control had not yet returned to the German garment industry in those early post-war years.

Very informative photos!


Gene T

[Asbjoern]

Gene, I do not know it for the BGS but learned for the first years of the BW that especially the dress uniforms were not purchased from large scale textile companies. I recently saw an 1956 issue of a magazin from "german society of professional tailors" (thats the best translation for their name...) publishing a kind of technical description for the affenjacke, the matching trouser etc telling every member of their "guild" could be supplier no matter in which scale. So its possible that at least hundreds of different "companies" supplied this garments with only a very rough discription of what to sew ...

Regards,

Jens

[Gene T]

What you are saying makes perfect sense, Jens, given the time period. I recently obtained a digital copy of "Uniformen-Markt" through a thread in the community sub-forum: http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...d.php?t=276535

One can clearly see examples after examples of what you are talking about in the pages of this famous trade journal.

There was also another journal called "RUNDSCHAU - Deutsches Schneiderfachblatt für das Gesamte Schneidergewerbe" that is highly prized today by those who research German uniforms.

Is the magazine you are referring to a post-war reconstitution of either of those earlier publications? What is its exact German name? I imagine it would be an invaluable source of reference for collectors of BRD uniforms.


Gene T

[Collectinsteve]

Great pictures Christian!

You can also notice that shoulder rank is button/loop style for the skinny BGS guy, as well as perhaps no BGS eagle on the left arm at all. The picture of him in the helmet shows what looks to be a different jacket with sewn in epaulettes and eagle.

Since this was basically the first year of the BGS' existence, and there was no tradition of uniforms post-WW2, it doesn't surprise me that there are several different versions. And I will probably have none of them in my collection any time soon

Steve

[Gordon Craig]

What you are saying makes perfect sense, Jens, given the time period. I recently obtained a digital copy of "Uniformen-Markt" through a thread in the community sub-forum: http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...d.php?t=276535

One can clearly see examples after examples of what you are talking about in the pages of this famous trade journal.

There was also another journal called "RUNDSCHAU - Deutsches Schneiderfachblatt für das Gesamte Schneidergewerbe" that is highly prized today by those who research German uniforms.

Is the magazine you are referring to a post-war reconstitution of either of those earlier publications? What is its exact German name? I imagine it would be an invaluable source of reference for collectors of BRD uniforms.


Gene T

Gene T,

I beleive that the book Jens is talking about is called "RUNDSHAU". There have been a couple of them for sale on ebay.de lately and I have one on the way. They all appear to be the same issue. I looked for a picture of the auction showing the book but couldn't find it. As I remember it, the pictures in the book I have coming looked similar to those in the link that you provided.

Regards,

Gordon