Peter Graham
Well-Known Member
I'm off to the opera in Berlin next week. It's cold over there and rather than wear one of my deck or field jackets I thought I'd look for something smart and that's when I hit on the idea of a pea coat. Of course it had to be an original WW2 pea coat and I eventually found this one on ebay. A bit of research identified it as an early WW2 type. This is the first pea coat I've owned and I'm stunned by the cut and build quality. 100% heavy wool and lined with rayon. The pockets are lined in thick tan corduroy. This is one solid, warm jacket. Much more so than an N-1 and I really like the extra length. The throat latch is very effective in keeping draughts out but is a bit restrictive. In bright sunlight the coat is actually very dark blue rather than black. A quick way to identify a WW2 pea coat is by the five rows of buttons and the label design. There's a great article on the fedora lounge which goes into this in detail. The prices for these seem to be all over the place. I've seen them for £200 but if you shop around it's not hard to find a bargain. I picked up this one, which is in remarkable condition, for £53. To put this into perspective, Buzz Rickson are selling repros for £700 ! Here's some pics.