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Suspect "Luftwaffe" jacket and seller

R

Roughwear

Well-Known Member
I was looking at jackets on ebay as one does sometimes and came across a German leather jacket which looked remarkably familiar. It has precisely the same features on it as the one I sold a few months ago, down to the main zip pull, which was a post war replacement and the oversewing which I did when I owned it. It sold it as a Luftwaffe style jacket and pointed out that there was no evidence to link it to the Luftewaffe. The very same jacket has been tampered with and has suddenly developed two holes where the eagle was and shoulder tabs! He has unsewn the side strap ends, leaving the stitich holes!

Here is the link.http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Authentic-Luftwaf ... 0236852183

The seller would accept $2900 and says
this Luftwaffe flight jacket what I am offering here at this auction is one of the best and most hard to find originals ever can owned by a collector
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. Here are some pics of my former jacket.

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Hawkeye

Hawkeye

Member
It's certainly possible, the jackets are startlingly similar. However, look at the front snap at the very bottom of the jacket, on your jacket it has a silver colour, the sellers jacket has an orange snap. The sellers jacket is also missing the dangly bits on the zip pullers that are present on your jacket. Theres also no feedback indicating he aquired this jacket over ebay between now and the time you sold your jacket. Maybe simply a "doppelganger" jacket?
 
R

Roughwear

Well-Known Member
Hawkeye said:
It's certainly possible, the jackets are startlingly similar. However, look at the front snap at the very bottom of the jacket, on your jacket it has a silver colour, the sellers jacket has an orange snap. The sellers jacket is also missing the dangly bits on the zip pullers that are present on your jacket. Theres also no feedback indicating he aquired this jacket over ebay between now and the time you sold your jacket. Maybe simply a "doppelganger" jacket?
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I think he changed the outer casing of the snaps. I can see the machine stitching I did on the hem of the jacket and near the snap latch. He could easily have removed the chains to make the jacket appear earlier than it is. Maybe a different jacket, but I don't think so. BTW experts dated my jacket to around 1945-50 on the basis of the zips and this one has the same zips! So it's not a Luftwaffe jacket but a German civilian bike jacket, an not one bought by a pilot to wear in his ME 109 etc.. :lol:
 
H

havocpaul

Active Member
These jackets should not mention Luftwaffe at all in their description if the sellers are honest; it's a current trend in order to squeeze extra bucks out of run-of-the mill bike jackets. It's happened similarly with post-war German and Italian navy leathers being sold as wartime U-boat jackets or even Panzer jackets. The Luftwaffe pilots mainly bought their civilian 'bike' jackets in France and the Low Countries from 1939-43 which either had no labels or labels in those languages. rarer were civilian jackets bought in Germany. I would still expect to see just as many 'captured' A-2's and other Allied jackets for sale but those seem impossible to find and yet so many were worn by Luftwaffe crews, either taken from aircrew on capture or later on at the POW camps where jackets were often confiscated or exchanged. I guess you covered yourself by describing it as 'Luftwaffe-style' but that obviously set the new seller thinking of how to earn more dosh.
 
R

Roughwear

Well-Known Member
Hawkeye said:
It's certainly possible, the jackets are startlingly similar. However, look at the front snap at the very bottom of the jacket, on your jacket it has a silver colour, the sellers jacket has an orange snap. The sellers jacket is also missing the dangly bits on the zip pullers that are present on your jacket. Theres also no feedback indicating he aquired this jacket over ebay between now and the time you sold your jacket. Maybe simply a "doppelganger" jacket?
Click to expand...

It was sold to someone in the UK and he sold it on to someone else in Germany.I am 99% certain its the same jacket. The measurements are identical and it also lacks a hanger. He may have changed the outer snap cases and removed the chains pulls. I can also recognise the machine stitching I did to the hem and near the bottom belt snap. This seller regularly advertises so called Luftwaffe jackets which he dresses up with regalia. I guess he buys up bike jackets and re-sells them as authentic Luftwaffe jackets. Without documentary evidence about the provenance of such a jacket they are all suspect.
 
Hawkeye

Hawkeye

Member
That seller does seem to have an unusual number of "authentic" luftwaffe jackets. I would not be surprised in the least if he was simply badging up old german bike jackets. Out of curiousity Andrew, why did you sell in the first place? Its a gorgeous looking jacket.
 
R

Roughwear

Well-Known Member
Hawkeye said:
That seller does seem to have an unusual number of "authentic" luftwaffe jackets. I would not be surprised in the least if he was simply badging up old german bike jackets. Out of curiousity Andrew, why did you sell in the first place? Its a gorgeous looking jacket.
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The jacket was a little tight under the armpits so I decided to sell it. Now if it had been a size larger there would be no discussion about it now in this context!
 
Hawkeye

Hawkeye

Member
Shame about the sizing, as I said, its a lovely jacket. After looking closer at the two jackets side by side I'm going to have to agree with you, thats the same jacket. The lighting isnt the best for the ebay pics but from what I can tell it has the exact same grain patterns and fold lines along the arms, the collar and the belt.
 
R

Roughwear

Well-Known Member
Hawkeye said:
Shame about the sizing, as I said, its a lovely jacket. After looking closer at the two jackets side by side I'm going to have to agree with you, thats the same jacket. The lighting isnt the best for the ebay pics but from what I can tell it has the exact same grain patterns and fold lines along the arms, the collar and the belt.
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Thanks. Post War bike jacket infact!
 
M

Miles_Archer

Member
It's a good thing we have you guys around to protect us from treachery.
Frankly tho way I see it anyone who wants a WWII era luftwaffe jacket probably deserves a fake.
 
R

Roughwear

Well-Known Member
Miles_Archer said:
It's a good thing we have you guys around to protect us from treachery.
Frankly tho way I see it anyone who wants a WWII era luftwaffe jacket probably deserves a fake.
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:lol: :lol: :lol:
 
S

shanghai joe

New Member
looooooooooong live the ebay poliz............

also the ebay scouts who brings jkts to our attention which we'll otherwise missssssss
 
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