Mystery A2 jacket

[Centaurus3200]

Interesting! I recently found a Star A2 at a the bay area goodwill outlet. I sometimes hit the Concord thrifts, but pretty much the first one north of walnut Creek. Only gone "deep" into Concord once. I might even have an idea in which thrift you found it at. Too much of a schlep from Oakland for me.

You'll find varying opinions on conditioning. Most here will say to leave it alone. If you do something, heavily research it first. I'd only use something benign, like bickmore bick 4 (which is kinda like aveeno face moisturizer for leather, haha!)... And only a little and only on the areas you are concerned with. Don't just slather it all over the place.

I'm actually not going to use anything on my star. It's fine as is. It's made it nearly 80 years with nothing. And for mine, it's russet color. I'd run the risk of darkening it.

Good question. I bought the jacket right around the time of my first post about it. Late January by my reckoning. It was in Concord, California out near the airport.


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[Centaurus3200]

Oh yeah, there's probably some moth nibbles on the knits by now. Get a good tailor to darn them up before wearing.

 

[Chevalier]

I ended up using a very small amount of Pecards Antique Leather Dressing. It did a good job of eliminating the crease along the sleeve that I think the jacket got from being stored flat. With Fleet Week coming up here, it may be a good time to wear the jacket a bit. I don’t want it to languish in the closet and never be worn or seen.

 

[Chevalier]

Oh yeah, there's probably some moth nibbles on the knits by now. Get a good tailor to darn them up before wearing.

The knits are in remarkably good shape. I’m always looking for good tailor recommendations, though. Is there anyone you would recommend for working on an original A-2? I find a lot of people shy away from any work on leather.

 

[Ken at Aero Leather]

Just recently a very special jacket made by me in 1970, with a ticket price of £200 / £300 back then, I forget the exact price and worth double that at least in today's 60's collectors market if it been put in ther right auction, got knocked down in a provincial auction for £30, so, yes, there are bargains out there still

No I didn't get the jacket, only found out about it after it was sold

I was reminded today that I never got round to posting a picture of the jacket from 1970 mention in the quote
Here's a period picture of one of my custmers wearing one of the exact same jackets...........the one on the left.
The jacket on the right is vintage American

 

[Lorenzo_l]

Can anyone help me figure out who made this A2 jacket? I bought it at a local hospice thrift shop. Needless to say, I was not leaving without buying the jacket, despite the missing label. Too many signs of what seemed to be a serious A2 jacket were there: throat clasp, no hand warmer pockets, Talon zipper. Looking at some A2 identification sites, I thought it might be a Bronco or a Poughkeepsie, but the condition looks too good for it to be an original A2. I checked the pockets for additional labels, but no luck. Any resources or leads that anyone can give me are much appreciated. This one is definitely becoming part of my personal collection, so it would be nice to know info about maker and date.

Thanks!

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Great find, Chevalier, you are a lucky man! Awesome thread and another opportunity to learn about another A-2 contract. According to Gary's book, the 42-18777P is United Sheeplined's only contract and was for 25,000 jackets. The contract used primarily the M-42 Crown No. 5 zip. Chevalier's jacket has a Talon M-41, which according to Gary's book, were also used, but was not the main zipper used for this contract. This makes this particular jacket even more unique.