442RCT
New Member
A couple weeks ago, I bid and won what the seller described as:
The measurements given looked right and I received the jacket today and was rather disappointed in the condition of the jacket. What he'd described as, "Both cuffs have wear (see pictures). These could be darned or replaced if desired." To his credit, he did post the accurate pics of the cuffs, and while the right cuff was as described, the left cuff was totally trashed. I didn't scroll down far enough and just looked at the top photo, that was my bad.
The other area of damage was, "The reddish brown lining has the usual neck wear areas. Other than that it’s in excellent shape.". Personally, I wouldn't call this usual neck wear, at least not on a jacket that's not 50 years old. The lining around the neck is completely 'worn' through to the leather.
Much of the 'wear' patterns, interior and exterior, appear to be from someone attempting to artificially age the the jacket, perhaps to pass it off as a WW2 jacket. This seller did not advertise it as other than what it was, an ELC Star repro. The waistband knits compared to the wrist cuffs is pristine, the lining of the rest of the jacket, compared to the wear around the neck is unworn looking, that's why the wear seems to be artificial. The person doing the aging got carried away with the sandpaper around the neck area.
The exterior of the jacket looks like it was aged with a combination of sandpapering, dragging along concrete or rocky surface, beat on with a tree branch, etc., actually, that's one of the reasons that I found the jacket attractive, it had that 100 mission look. So the exterior leather surface of the jacket isn't my complaint.
Since the seller's photos accurately depicted the jacket and there was no intentional misleading on his part, should I keep the jacket and make it a project jacket. The lining around the neck needs to be repaired somehow, otherwise, it'll just keep ripping. The left cuff needs to be replaced, which means the right cuff and waistband need to be replaced to match. This will bring the actual cost of the jacket up another $ 100+. The seller advertised a 7 day return with his listing, and looking at the bidding, it looks like he could offer it as a second chance offer to the second highest bidder. I know for $ 450 I can get another HH jacket in the future in better shape than this one. (I missed out on an Aero HH which looked fantastic, at the same time I was bidding on this jacket.) I'd also bid on and won another Sefton, which will be a known project jacket by default, the seller said it would be and included a set of wrist cuffs and waistband as part of the sale. Since I really like Sefton A-2s , and if it fits as well as my first Sefton, I factored the cost of replacing the knits when I bid on this jacket.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... K:MEWNX:IT
W.W.II STAR A-2 HORSEHIDE FLIGHT FLYING JACKET 40
EARLY EASTMAN REPRODUCTION WITH GREAT LOOK
This is a great looking example of an earlier Eastman reproduction of a Star contract W.W.II A-2 flight jacket in a size 40. Since I wasn’t sure, John Chapman verified that this is an Eastman. To quote from J. Chapman’s C. D. on flight jackets regarding the earlier Eastman’s: “ the leather used is quite good, looking like many original jackets and having veg tanned qualities (scuffs easy and shows wear). The overall cut is quite accurate to Star jackets…especially the collar and pocket design.”
The measurements given looked right and I received the jacket today and was rather disappointed in the condition of the jacket. What he'd described as, "Both cuffs have wear (see pictures). These could be darned or replaced if desired." To his credit, he did post the accurate pics of the cuffs, and while the right cuff was as described, the left cuff was totally trashed. I didn't scroll down far enough and just looked at the top photo, that was my bad.
The other area of damage was, "The reddish brown lining has the usual neck wear areas. Other than that it’s in excellent shape.". Personally, I wouldn't call this usual neck wear, at least not on a jacket that's not 50 years old. The lining around the neck is completely 'worn' through to the leather.
Much of the 'wear' patterns, interior and exterior, appear to be from someone attempting to artificially age the the jacket, perhaps to pass it off as a WW2 jacket. This seller did not advertise it as other than what it was, an ELC Star repro. The waistband knits compared to the wrist cuffs is pristine, the lining of the rest of the jacket, compared to the wear around the neck is unworn looking, that's why the wear seems to be artificial. The person doing the aging got carried away with the sandpaper around the neck area.
The exterior of the jacket looks like it was aged with a combination of sandpapering, dragging along concrete or rocky surface, beat on with a tree branch, etc., actually, that's one of the reasons that I found the jacket attractive, it had that 100 mission look. So the exterior leather surface of the jacket isn't my complaint.
Since the seller's photos accurately depicted the jacket and there was no intentional misleading on his part, should I keep the jacket and make it a project jacket. The lining around the neck needs to be repaired somehow, otherwise, it'll just keep ripping. The left cuff needs to be replaced, which means the right cuff and waistband need to be replaced to match. This will bring the actual cost of the jacket up another $ 100+. The seller advertised a 7 day return with his listing, and looking at the bidding, it looks like he could offer it as a second chance offer to the second highest bidder. I know for $ 450 I can get another HH jacket in the future in better shape than this one. (I missed out on an Aero HH which looked fantastic, at the same time I was bidding on this jacket.) I'd also bid on and won another Sefton, which will be a known project jacket by default, the seller said it would be and included a set of wrist cuffs and waistband as part of the sale. Since I really like Sefton A-2s , and if it fits as well as my first Sefton, I factored the cost of replacing the knits when I bid on this jacket.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... K:MEWNX:IT