First pattern tropical jacket for review.

[Stian]

Gentlemen,

I have had this first pattern tropical jacket (not M41 ) that I would like to hear your option on.

What I think is that this is an original jacket with replaced insignia. Behind the eagle there is a ghost of a previous eagle and the one on the jacket now may be a fake. Behind the artillery Collar tabs it can be seen that a pair of enlisted collar tabs was present at one time. This may be a field modification.

The sleeves have been modified (to get an officer look to the jacket). Was this common?

There is a blue ribbon with a star on the right breast pocket. What is this for?

I look forward to your comments and if you need detail more pictures the say the word.

With regards,
Stian

[Johnny R]

The base jacket is real the insingia if they show no wear up close was most likely was added recently. The eagle is a bad fake. There is sun fading behind the loops so that may indicate they are period. The cuffs could be period I guess but it would be rather odd that they did not fade but there is some sun fading behind them. Hard to say.

[Richard T]

I think Johnny got it right.

Richard

[Johnny R]

Can you post pics of the tabs please.

[NickG]

Post war restored with a bad tropical breast eagle...minor flaw...de-nazified...
I would simply replace that with a continental officers eagle, since its already been upgraded
(war time or post war) with officer insignia and officer's cuffs.
The cuffs are non matching material... perhaps originally these were color matched but just faded differently?
Its definately a good used/faded early pattern tunic. The ribbon is interesting, I assume Italian...

[afrikasandman]

Its a very interesting tunic for sure. Think all points have already been made. I think the blue ribbon is original to the tunic as the fading is consistant with the rest of the jacket... maybe an italian medal? I really don't care for the cuffs, very odd but its possible its period. Would love a hands on. The insignia is restored, likely stripped post war and relatively recently replaced, last 10 years for sure.. which is not uncommon. I have seen where officer insignia has been sewn over the standard tabs but these appear to be long gone from this tunic. The eagle is a terrible repro, but that can be fixed. Think if it were mine I would strip the current insignia and replace it like it used to be. Just me, but thank you for posting! Matt

[Stian]

Hi all,

Thank you very much for your feedback. The eagle is going off for sure.
Regarding the cuffs! It would be strange thing to do if you want to restore a tunic but who knows.

Adding some pictures on request of Johnny R and a different view of the right arm cuff.

With regards,
Stian

[Mark Gibson]

I've no doubts that all insignia is post war added. If you remove the tabs you will probably find that the collar will have shadows of previous insignia (as per the attached image). Judging by the back of the collar I would expect to see the shadow from em's insignia.

These tan tunics do fade very easily and it is obvious that the cuffs have been added early in the life of this tunic. The cloth used is from an Olive tunic so the colour would have always been distinctly different. It looks to have been a professional job with the cuffs having been sewn shut before the addition of the olive material.

I'd be satisfied that this was truly an officers tunic but with all insignia stripped. Not unusual at all for officers to have em's tabs on their tunics as not all officers added their continental tabs. There are many published photographs with officers of all ranks retaining em's tabs on their 'all ranks' issue tunics.

I would suggest not removing the cuffs as I do believe these to be original and definitely not the first time that I've seen this on a tropical tunic.

Nice find.

Mark

[Tim O'Keefe]

Hello

Nice tunic, agree cuffs look like they were modified during the war. The AKCT is a fake though. So doubt the other insignia was originally applied during the war...

[Stian]

Hi all,

Thanks again for all your comments. I am quiet pleased to get a confirmation regarding the jacket itself. Shame about the insignias but it’s not to often you see this type of tunic. At least not in Norway.

I will remove the eagle and find a nice looking tropical eagle for EM or a continental officer’s eagle. The last option will be the easiest I suppose. And I will probably leave the artillery tabs as they are, as it looks like this has been an officer’s tunic.

With regards,
Stian

[NZMark]

Stian,
I have nothing new to add to the thread except my opinion that you should go for an officer's continental eagle if you choose to replace due to the fact that the individual that wore this tunic was obviously 'rank' consious (the cuffs being the giveaway - and I'm completely with Mark G. that these are period and should be left alone as historic to this tunic).
I would think the officer removed the original enlisted man's bird, so you should have no problem re-mounting an appropriate adler.
Wonderful coloured tunic...is that chest size correct..88cm? Extremely small man...
Regards,
Mark

[Stian]

Hi Mark,

Thank you for your advice. I think that I will go for your suggestion.
And yes the tunic is very small indeed. So I think that it’s correct. Maybe the owner had a need to compensate for his size by getting his tunic modified.

With regards,
Stian

[NZMark]

Yeah, we call it 'small man's disease!' over here.
Regards,
Mark

[Tim O'Keefe]

Nice display, too bad about the eagle & AKCT but those can be replaced too.

[Stian]

Afrikakorps CT fake?

Nice display, too bad about the eagle & AKCT but those can be replaced too.

Dear all,

Is it the general opinion that the Afrikakorps CT is a fake? I would like to have this verified before I remove it.

With regards,
Stian