where to buy a salty tunic??

[fuser1]

Hi guys
im looking for a salty combat tunic for a display maybe witout insignias or with a reatached insignias, maybe a midwar one
so where should i start looking?, because all the dealers an others dont have salty ones
thanks

[Jens Thune]

Try Ebay maybe

Jens

Hi guys
im looking for a salty combat tunic for a display maybe witout insignias or with a reatached insignias, maybe a midwar one
so where should i start looking?, because all the dealers an others dont have salty ones
thanks

[phild]

The word salty can mean a lot of different things to many people and it has never meant much of anything too me. I started hearing this term used a lot in the mid to late 1980s to sell stuff that was in bad condition that was generally sustained thru post war neglect or abuse.

Cloth uniform items that show true evidence of hard and long term combat wear are pretty rare and I would say that orignal badged wool tunics that show hard combat use are extremely rare in the scheme of things. There are certainly more uniform items out there usually stripped or re-badged that were worn out in post war labor situations or POW use. Of course with things like boots and trousers...as well as most of the over garmets is can be impossible to tell for sure when the wear occured.

For what is is worth, most every true conbat worn tunic that I own and for that matter have ever seen offered out of the woodwork was found in Europe (in my case 25-30 years ago) and that is where I would suggest that one look for them today. These type items were simply not brought back in any real numbers by GIs. Some caps and cotton made uniforms items in real worn condition is an exception to the statement made previously.

[Colorado]

It seems salty EM tunics appear on the estand often. Untouched ones showing little wear and unquestionable period applied insignia rarely appear on estand and are gone in a flash if fairly priced.

I would keep an eye on the estand and put a "wanted" ad in the that section of estand.

[sander vw]

if you check ebay.de weekly you will definatly find one. I've seen lots of them! I even bought a salty one with original sewn insignia once, you don't see those to often these days.

[Paul McKee]

The word salty can mean a lot of different things to many people and it has never meant much of anything too me. I started hearing this term used a lot in the mid to late 1980s to sell stuff that was in bad condition that was generally sustained thru post war neglect or abuse.

FWIW, I had always thought this term originated from the alleged practice in the US Marine Corps of newly-arrived in theater Marines giving their field clothing a thorough salt-water weathering in order to not look like fresh recruits. They'd try to look like an "old salt" or "salty".

If that's the case, some stuff described by dealers as "salty" actually look more abused and ready to be "surveyed" (condemned, in USMC parlance).

Paul

[fuser1]

thanks so much for all your replys, as i told you im plannig a display with a very used tunic, dont care if the use was post war as long as it was an original one, good idea about ebay ill attemp there and ill chek originality with you if there is no problem of course
thanks so much
eduardo

[pzrwest]

In my opinion "salty" refers to a tunic that was worn in the field not a mint condition one. It would show some acutal wear and tear, maybe a repaired tear, a couple soldier replaced buttons, field rank upgrade hand sewn on by the soldier, etc. But not mothed. The Collectors Guild has what I would call "salty" uniforms.