Willis & GEiger AN-J-3A in horsehide and red knits

[bazelot]

I just got this Willis & Geiger AN-J-3A. I had never seen one quite like it before. It is made in horsehide (first Navy jacket I see in horsehide) and it has red knits. It is in great shape and i could have made the leather look brand new with a coat of Pecard but I decided against it to preserve the typical horsehide wear on the leather.

 

[FlyingYankee]

Looks great, are those replacement knits?

 

[Anonymous]

There's a member here who has the same with light brown knits and they are original I suppose.

 

[chancerider]

Well, you don't see that every day. That's a pretty cool jacket. Where does it spec out at size-wise? Are you keeping or selling?

 

[Roughwear]

I have never seen an AN-J-3A jacket made from horsehide with red knits. Perhaps W&G were low on goat and used horse instead, if it is horse rather than cowhide. Tom, do you think the back of the collar is goatskin?

 

[bazelot]

Yes knits are original and it is all horsehide including the back of the collar. I had never seen one before and JC told me of one he has also and I think it is the same contract so it looks like the whole contract was made from horsehide. It looks like it is a pretty rare bird. It is definitely horsehide and not cow.

 

[Roughwear]

Thanks Tom. How do you know it's not cowhide? Has it been scientifically tested?

 

[bazelot]

Nothing scientific. JC confirmed it is horsehide (He has the same contract in horsehide as well) and also it does not have the softness of cowhide. It actually feels like a resprayed A-2 (I had at one point a Dubow respray and it looks and feels just the same)

 

[Peter Graham]

Man, you sure are finding some interesting Navy jackets these days.

 

[Silver Surfer]

interesting, indeed. i have a first contract star g-1 that also has red knits. when i got it, i thought that they were replacements, but, nope, they are original to the jac. upon close examination, it appears that the were originally a reddish brown, but faded to an aero red.

 

[bazelot]

Yes It is an interesting jacket. The knits are similar to the WWII reddish Aero knits.

 

[Skip]

That's a nice look for a navy jacket, really like it.

 

[Mr Black]

Thats beautiful.