First view of McGregor/David D Doniger AN-J-3

[Dr H]

Dear All

With apologies for the poor images (screen grabs converted to JPG), this is the jacket that Andrew kindly (and unselfishly) offered up on the Forum last week.

It's not in the country yet and a fuller review will follow once I've had a chance to look at it more closely and take one better images (before you ask Alan, on this occasion I won't be wearing it as I'd need to have a couple of ribs removed first - it's a generous 40/small 42 if the dimensions are correct.

I'll preface this with saying that if I'm a novice with A-2s, know little about naval jackets and much less about the AN-J-3 . Others with a deeper knowledge and more experience please feel free to comment, but this is the short-lived attempt to address the needs of both services (army and navy) - as you can see it has some elements of both A-2 and later naval jackets.

I don't know whether this is a jacket that was produced in mil spec and badged McGregor, a commercial copy of a mil spec jacket that Doniger produced in e.g. goatskin for the military... in fact I just don't know much... :roll:

What can be said with confidence is that it's a David D Doniger - in common with the A-2 that I posted a little while ago, it has the label of the commercial arm of the business, McGregor Sportswear.

'Nuff said, images...

As you can, some work to do to clean and tidy...

Sadly I won't be wearing it - a shame as it has grown on me, but just too small - so, it'll be for sale after some fettling and research.

 

[Persimmon]

What are your plans re cleaning and tidying the jacket, Ian ?

 

[Dr H]

Hi Alan

Good question. Basically, minimal intervention and sticking to stabilising only the areas that really need it (just like the ceiling paintings).

I'm somebody who prefers dirty (sorry patinated) original jackets so I'll restrict myself to feeding the hide just a little (Pecards/Lexol, not sure which is best yet) and trying to lose any dryness without changing the tone (and avoiding ending up with a syrup dipped look). If you look at the shot of the underside of the throat latch/flap this is almost tan coloured, which presumably was the original colour of the jacket - with a little feed it might bring out these tones in the main panels.

Difficult to see fully from the images, but the hide looks to be in good shape (no obvious holes) fortunately the rear fold of the collar looks clean and unholed (a particular gripe of mine on older jackets) and the lining hasn't disintegrated near the rear collar.

The darning on the cuffs is, as the youngsters say, pants... This will be unpicked and re-stitched in a matching colour. Initially, I had thought that the cuffs and waistband were replacements, but now I'm not so sure as the biweave portion looks brown/blue which is consistent with oxidation (can anybody channel Jeff? :roll: ).

The lining looks to be in great condition so nothing to do in most areas. My main dilemmas are the tears - to stabilise with a tailor's backing material (light iron on webbing) or not. I don't know...what's the consensus among the collectors (i.e. those people who prefer to display rather than wear originals)?

That's about it really...wish I could get more than arm into it, but I know that's not going to happen realistically.

Looking forward to seeing it in any case - I really enjoy Donigers and this is even more intriguing than the A-2 was.

Cheers

Ian

 

[Andrew]

I love the patina as it is Ian. You probably know this but Pecards will definitely darken the tone but it will lighten up a little over time. Not sure which way I'd go here. I have left some alone when I'm fond of the colour as is.