1988-spec Saddlery finish differences

[Atticus]

The jacket I'm wearing in the Jeep photo above is an '88 Saddlery. When I got it, it was in unworn condition. Not right out of the plastic bag, but close. Even then, it didn’t have a particularly shiny finish. In fact, the quality of that jacket’s goatskin is quite good, as seems to be the case with most of the eighties and early nineties Neil Cooper military jackets. I have a 1992 Cooper G-1 that has the best goatskin of any of my G-1s…including my C series Star Sportswear.

AF

 

[FtrPlt]

Just to continue with some of the subtle differences seen. Here's the label on a current eBay listing. Pretty nondescript but I did notice that the size that's usually present in the lower right hand corner of the Saddlery label is not present on this jacket. It shows as an 88-contract jacket.

As to Coopers in general, I'm pretty pleased with all of mine (2 x early orange tags and 2 x 88 Saddlery's). As I mentioned in an earlier post, the purple knits are very robust -- very unlike the problematic knits on other A-2s I've had. My oldest Cooper is just shy of 30 years old and has been worn regularly for at least 20 of those years.