Good afternoon,
I picked this tunic up a few weeks ago from a canceled ebay listing and after being in Montana for almost two weeks finally got it yesterday. The wait was killing me and I was pleasantly surprised when I opened it up. The lady I purchased it from said her Uncle brought it back and they found it in his attic in Brooklyn during a house clearing after his passing recently. In addition to the tunic she gave me some negatives of pics of him during his time in the Army.
At first I thought it could be a converted Artillery officer’s piped walking-out tunic, but after close examination this morning using both a high power table lamp/magnifier and natural light I can find no evidence of other tabs ever being applied (indicating something other than a General’s rank by the tabs). The tabs, being an early style are an appropriate match for this pattern of tunic with the angled lower pockets and four rear panels like a Waffenrock so I’m comfortable there. The Generalleutnant boards are correctly sewn in and under the wearer’s right board is a button for an Aiguilette and under the left board you can see the impression in the shoulder material from the prongs of the pip being pressed down for all these years.
There is no evidence of another eagle ever having been applied and as you can see the moths started to nibble a nice little path between the threads holding this one on. I found no evidence of other buttons having been sewn on and they show a nice consistent slightly muted honey-gold toning. As you can see it has an internal belt and a D.R.G.M. marked dagger hanger. The loops look period, but are not the more desirable looking macramé style commonly encountered on tailor produced tunics. Condition-wise there are no moth nips or tracking on the tunic itself, but there is a lot of soiling from improper storage. I’ve had pretty good luck with Woolite on issues like this so I’m going to give it a try in an inconspicuous area to check the results.
Sadly this tunic is not named, but I do believe it’s right as rain and have no reason to doubt the pedigree, but if somebody here is aware of this tunic being discussed before please don’t hesitate to say so.
Thanks and appreciate any/all feedback!
Bob
I picked this tunic up a few weeks ago from a canceled ebay listing and after being in Montana for almost two weeks finally got it yesterday. The wait was killing me and I was pleasantly surprised when I opened it up. The lady I purchased it from said her Uncle brought it back and they found it in his attic in Brooklyn during a house clearing after his passing recently. In addition to the tunic she gave me some negatives of pics of him during his time in the Army.
At first I thought it could be a converted Artillery officer’s piped walking-out tunic, but after close examination this morning using both a high power table lamp/magnifier and natural light I can find no evidence of other tabs ever being applied (indicating something other than a General’s rank by the tabs). The tabs, being an early style are an appropriate match for this pattern of tunic with the angled lower pockets and four rear panels like a Waffenrock so I’m comfortable there. The Generalleutnant boards are correctly sewn in and under the wearer’s right board is a button for an Aiguilette and under the left board you can see the impression in the shoulder material from the prongs of the pip being pressed down for all these years.
There is no evidence of another eagle ever having been applied and as you can see the moths started to nibble a nice little path between the threads holding this one on. I found no evidence of other buttons having been sewn on and they show a nice consistent slightly muted honey-gold toning. As you can see it has an internal belt and a D.R.G.M. marked dagger hanger. The loops look period, but are not the more desirable looking macramé style commonly encountered on tailor produced tunics. Condition-wise there are no moth nips or tracking on the tunic itself, but there is a lot of soiling from improper storage. I’ve had pretty good luck with Woolite on issues like this so I’m going to give it a try in an inconspicuous area to check the results.
Sadly this tunic is not named, but I do believe it’s right as rain and have no reason to doubt the pedigree, but if somebody here is aware of this tunic being discussed before please don’t hesitate to say so.
Thanks and appreciate any/all feedback!
Bob
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