Army Jump Smock

[Eric Queen]

Gary,

I had this piece at my place for several days when GP was selling it. Its not something I would recommend buying for a number of reasons.

Eric

[Gary Cain]

Hey Eric,

List away, I have right of return so I am curious to know whats up. That is after all the purpose of this group!

Cheers
Gary

Gary,

I had this piece at my place for several days when GP was selling it. Its not something I would recommend buying for a number of reasons.

Eric

[Eric Queen]

Gary,

Just my opinion, but I certainly do not like the base fabric. Not at all like the Gruenmeliert material these should be made of. I don't like the overall construction, just look at the way the snaps are applied, as just one example. The flightsuit fabric is an interesting choice for the zipper covers ( which would not be out of the realm of feasibility, as a limited number of smocks (M40's) were made from flightsuit fabric ( both white and brown fleck ), and M38's were certainly "upgraded" to M40's on occasion ). The eagle is also not sewn on the correct way if this was factory done.

Over all, I think its very poorly made for such an early piece. When compared to other M38's/M40's I have owned/seen, its not even close.

Again, just my opinion.

Eric

[Chris]

Eric is exactly right: The base material is wrong. The way the snaps are sewn on is silly. The lining material is wrong. The overall pattern and construction is off. The markings are bogus. This smock is nothing like my M38. I think the eagle is an original eagle, but not sewn on correctly. I would not own this piece.

[Gary Cain]

Cool,
This is what we need! Now could we get pictures of the M38s in question so we can all see the differences. I agree with you both for the most part. I am going to be away for the next couple of days on business. When I get back I will pose some questions for you both, and hope to get a good thread going on early smocks. The only reason why I think this may be good(and it's a very big may) is because I have seen many, many photos of the early smocks and they are all over the place as far as construction, materials etc. So get your knives ready and lets take this thing apart!

Cheers, and I will be back online this sunday night!
Gary

Eric is exactly right: The base material is wrong. The way the snaps are sewn on is silly. The lining material is wrong. The overall pattern and construction is off. The markings are bogus. This smock is nothing like my M38. I think the eagle is an original eagle, but not sewn on correctly. I would not own this piece.

[Frank Schneider]

Gary,

I think a fine example of an M38 was for sale a while ago on Peter Wamond's website:

http://www.germanmilitaria.com/Luftw...os/L02951.html

This looks to me like a textbook example. Not yet converted to M40 pattern. The state it is in shows that the fabric and construction are of very good quality.

Frank.

[SMP]

Just a thought; but isn't this similar to the WW2 British copy of first-pattern German step-in ? The material looks right...it would be easy to convert the hardware such as zips, etc.
Anyone got a British step-in in their collections ?

Regards,
Steve

[Chris]

Frank, thanks for posting the link to the M-38, which saves me the labor of posting pics. That's my M-38, refered to above (in post #19). A comparison of the snaps, the grünmeliert fabric, the lining material, the eagle stitching, and the markings between the two are all that's needed.

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Steve, the smock is certainly not a converted British "step in" smock. I do not have one, yet , in my collection, but I have some good photos of them.


Cheers, Ade.

[Eric Queen]

Hi Steve, the smock is certainly not a converted British "step in" smock. I do not have one, yet , in my collection, but I have some good photos of them.


Cheers, Ade.

I have examined a couple of the British first model smocks, and the base material of these pieces actually comes much closer to the German grünmeliert fabric than this piece does. In my opinion, this piece is fake from the ground up.

Just picked this up the other day. Member of II./FJR1 still wearing the army M38 in May of 1940 ( at Moerdijk )

[Chris Boonzaier]

Just a silly question from a non FJ collector.

Were cuff titles sewn ONTO the smocks? I have seen a number of photos of smoks with Kreta or Africa or both and in all cases it looked as if they were removable. But this seems to point to the regt titles being sewed on? Is that correct?

[Eric Queen]

Just a silly question from a non FJ collector.

Were cuff titles sewn ONTO the smocks? I have seen a number of photos of smoks with Kreta or Africa or both and in all cases it looked as if they were removable. But this seems to point to the regt titles being sewed on? Is that correct?

.

[Chris Boonzaier]

.

Hi Eric,
but are they sewn on for wear in the field or fixed on for photos?

[Eric Queen]

Hi Eric,
but are they sewn on for wear in the field or fixed on for photos?

Chris, I cannot imagine that these would ever be permanently sewn on. Tacked on, even buttoned on, for some type of ceremony, parade or other special occasion, but, in my opinion, not machine sewn on for field wear.

[Chris Boonzaier]

Chris, I cannot imagine that these would ever be permanently sewn on. Tacked on, even buttoned on, for some type of ceremony, parade or other special occasion, but, in my opinion, not machine sewn on for field wear.

That is what I thought. I was suprised to see the traces of a title on the smock.
As the folks who know something about these give it a thumbs down I assume the traces were added to make the smock sexier