Repros vs originals, prices ?

[a2jacketpatches]

You talk about the FD bad vibes what is that ?

Exactly :lol: I really don't know for sure.

 

[Vcruiser]

Beloved Van wasn't just riled up about an erased thread 'over there'...but familiar with the antics of the unbeloved member over there who's rep suggests most probable delight in also bringing the same intentions over here. If you don't care to buy that...well..I just really don't care either.
Van

 

[ausreenactor]

Being very un-Dude.

 

[unclegrumpy]

At the moment it would take around 100 Good Wears to empty the cookie jar. With pending DVA compensation payouts I am in a pretty fortunate position. I am semi-retired now at 44. Tianna has finished her Degree and I do a few days a month to maintain Defence home loan benefits and flex the rank in a small way. My accumulated funds have been based on sound decisions and protecting the investments I have made. Just like last years decision to divest myself of as much horsehide as possible. A softening economy has killed the second hand market in my opinion. Good items will always fetch a premium. At the moment we are spoilt for choice in the $500 - $1500 price range for new flight jackets. There will always be someone happy to purchase a high end repro.. My only bespoke A-2 cost me well over the cost of a GW with any NOS zipper. As it was built to spec, to replicate a specific WWII jacket, it is my one and only keeper. If my father did not have the Murder Inc A-2 it could have gone as well. I would be confident that a good original A-2 would hold it's value over time even in a low market. This was surely the topic to ponder in the original post.

Wow Couchy, I think I did a really poor job with my cookie jar analogy....and I apologize for that.

All I was trying to say, was as the years fly by, the accumulated cookies, Fosters, and other goodies might find their way to be stored in places that might cause one to someday revisit the idea of ordering another jacket....or two, or three....or more...this is what happened to me. :shock:

I think you also bring up some interesting points regarding todays market. One thing I have also noticed over the years, is the market tends to go up and it goes down. Partly due to exchange rates and economies, and partly due to the current fashion trends, and partly due to the hot movie of the day, and partly due to who knows what.

All I know, it has been basically the same people through all of it....and you are likely to remain one of those people.

 

[ausreenactor]

Maybe BK will do a 30% next Valentine's Day for A-2s. Happy to wait and see.

I am downsizing it all this year. 12 standard shipping cartons filled with militaria behind the cam net in the garage? And then half of the wardrobes in the house with uniforms, jackets and flightsuits.

Tianna has not let me spend my 2006 Solomon Islands money yet. I just work off buys and sales off eBay or the forums or Facebook.

 

[Silver Surfer]

ahhh the good angel whispers in your ear. not to worry, aus, the other angel will be back in due time. "disposing" is only one aspect of the cycle. that is to say, disposing of stuff makes room for ????. and it begins again, hahaha

 

[foster]

Disposing? My wife told me to stop selling my militaria. She observed that I will only buy it again in a few years time, and the prices will have gone up in the meantime!

 

[plumbline]

The fact remains .. it's hard to ever envisage a '59 Gibson Les Paul ever being worth less than a '59 re-issue no matter how good the re-issue .... never mind a '59 reissue which isn't made by Gibson

Yet that is the situation we fins ourselves in with some vintage leather jackets ...... it's a funny old market the vintage and repro jacket one !

 

[ausreenactor]

Just starting to realize the 44 year old looks a little dated in kit that I have not worn since I was a 37 year old. No room for mannequins with the camper in the garage (which might end up at the RAAF base in Adelaide for no cost storage) and now the girls clothes are getting larger and take up more of their wardrobes. Stuff still fits, but not the Dad image. Kids are into their own things now and looks like netball for the girls and fishing might have taken a hold for the boy until football starts again. Give a man a fish he eats a meal. Teach a man to fish he drinks for six hours and forgets to eat a meal. Even the shooting looks like a thing of the past. Have not fired a target round in well over a year? Sydney was no good unless you are middle eastern bikie who is content to pay for an indoor range and not achieve anything but talking smack about your next 9mm. Mildura has seven shooting clubs but we can not get powder. Our industry has shipped it all to the preppers in the USA. Olin and Winchester have sold us out. Only commercial ammo now and in limited quantities.

I will always keep a dress unifom and flight suit and the same for the Airborne kit. Just don't need M42s and M43s for each unit and then shirts and field gear to match. Then Korea, then Vietnam and current. I never wore it much, only to the odd living history display and I think the 100th ANZAC Day in WW1 NZ uniform could be the last for any of the events...Still have At The Front kit here in the bags the shipped in? Anyhoo... I know my WWII Impressions M42 set in the bag with the invoice went from around $200 to $400 by the time I traded it for an 1897 sword. Perhaps this is where the money is... Reproduction field uniforms, made in the USA!

 

[unclegrumpy]

ahhh the good angel whispers in your ear. not to worry, aus, the other angel will be back in due time. "disposing" is only one aspect of the cycle. that is to say, disposing of stuff makes room for ????. and it begins again, hahaha

Couchy, I think you have a very well thought out plan, that makes a lot of sense.

Keeping the WW1 NZ uniform is a smart move, but I would also take the best of the best of your WW II kits, and put them aside and just forget about them. Maybe limit yourself to a footlockers worth. You will never regret doing this.

I think the boys are correct, this is all part of a "cycle", and you are in a reevaluation and transition phase. A lot of guys never hit this phase, they just chug along into oblivion. You are lucky that you have the capacity to look in the mirror and make some changes. Most guys are really bad at that....and many do not have their priorities straight, but you clearly do.

However, I think that you don't want to go too far, because deep down you are not going to change. The problem with new stuff, is you can just order it. Maybe you will start collecting original items or write a book....things that more of the challenge and energy is burned up in the hunt or research....but you need to find something....but I am, sure you will.

 

[a2jacketpatches]

The fact remains .. it's hard to ever envisage a '59 Gibson Les Paul ever being worth less than a '59 re-issue no matter how good the re-issue .... never mind a '59 reissue which isn't made by Gibson

Yet that is the situation we fins ourselves in with some vintage leather jackets ...... it's a funny old market the vintage and repro jacket one !

Maybe when you throw everything into one pot, but in reality, vintage and repro are two different animals. Most originals are a smaller size and most modern guys are a larger size. On top of that, most collectors of originals don't wear their jackets and if they do, very carefully with extreme caution. I can think of at least a dozen A2 jacket collectors I've met over the past 20 years will multiple originals in their collection that would never dream of wearing them. Those same collectors probably only heard of VLJ and FL from me and forgot the next day. Well aware of repro's but little or no interest in them. We are a select very few on these forums, believe it.

 

[ADC]

Hypothetically if one found a cache of mint NOS unissued original A2's, how would they compare in value to the best current repros? Also I imagine a near mint original with no great provenace or history would sell for more than repro's on the open market.

 

[ausreenactor]

Hypothetically if one found a cache of mint NOS unissued original A2's, how would they compare in value to the best current repros? Also I imagine a near mint original with no great provenace or history would sell for more than repro's on the open market.

Unissued and wrapped A-2s might not have any grain or patina? Might drive the prices down to the mid 90s, smooth ELC zone?

 

[ADC]

Hypothetically if one found a cache of mint NOS unissued original A2's, how would they compare in value to the best current repros? Also I imagine a near mint original with no great provenace or history would sell for more than repro's on the open market.

Unissued and wrapped A-2s might not have any grain or patina? Might drive the prices down to the mid 90s, smooth ELC zone?

Not really. If carefully and slowly sold off it will create a mad scramble. NOS collectables sell like crazy.

This is at true story. About 15 years ago my brother whilst walking his dog found about 540 vintage NOS Parker fountain pens in boxes of 20 on the sidewalk thrown out for the hard rubbish collection. He sat on them for about 4 years not knowing what to do with them before he showed them to me. I said he could make a fortune on Ebay. I agreed to sell them for him for a 30% cut. Over the next two years I slowly sold the lot starting at 99 cents no reserve for between US$35 and a high of about $320 with most going for between $70 and $120 each. Those were the days when the Aussie dollar was worth around 50 US cents or thereabouts. Every pen sold.

 

[ausreenactor]

Did the same with US$4 badges from Iraq my brother made and sold to his unit mates. They got spied on the Defence page and we made a killing. Just one every now and again.

 

[coalman]

Now we are seeing high end repro new A2 jackets becoming out of reach of so many would be buyers, will we see an increase in sales of low end A2 jackets which are sold by UK companies such as Soldier of Fortune and Epic Militaria ?

Has anybody have any experience of these jackets?

John

 

[Phantomfixer]

I like the original concept of John Chapman. You can get a brand new A-2 just like they were made in the 1940s. Unless you are a size 36 to 40 it is impossible to find a larger size in wearable condition with sleeves long enough. Happy to have the opportunity to experience a real A-2. Not easy to get for everyone but certainly an attainable goal if you really want one and are willing to work for it.

I am going to catch flak for this but....

Is it a "real" A-2 if made in 2015..even if it is "artwork"..I get what you are saying...it is a s real as one could hope for but is it a 'real" A-2...... a real A-2 IMO was made between 1931 (excluding any test jackets) and 1943.....And a real A-2 could also be any of the re issue government A-2s issued to USAF....
But a JC, ELC, BK A-2 is still just an A-2 made in 20XX, and never been issued...sold as a commodity, bought, sold, and traded on the open market ...not a piece of war fighting material.. not a tool for war...never been (excluding a few flyers privately purchasing their A-2s) in a military cockpit...

I admire guys that can sit down and recreate an exact replica of a Weber or Star A-2....But it is a mechanical process...understanding how to make the jacket///copying the patterns...enlarging them for todays man size....but to call it artwork??? Do they love their craft...no doubt.....

Ok ready to be banished by the jacket Gods...
Signed,
A-2 lover from the word go....
the women of Rough Wear were not artisans...they were craftsman er women..and could stitch a straight line

 

[a2jacketpatches]

I'd have to say that just for the fact that these patterns have to be modified in many different ways to accommodate the fit of the modern man, it requires a considerable amount of artistic knowledge and skill to keep the design elements looking right. Not as simple as following a pattern that never changes like. I'll bet pocket placement, a half inch to an inch here and there, and countless other details need to be eyeballed, judged, and executed. Much like building a model kit. To follow the instructions and glue it together, no. But to flawlessly fill the seams ad skillfully detail it with paint, yes.

Work of art - "An object created for principally or entirely functional, religious or other non-aesthetic reasons which has come to be appreciated as art (often later, and/or by cultural outsiders)"

 

[Phantomfixer]

"Created" being the optimal word...vs recreated...no doubt these guys are very passionate about their trade...no doubt...The world, my world is a much better place because of these guys, and the work they do....sewing is a mechanical proccess that takes skill and practice...then it becomes repition and skill...


how many prototypes had to be made before ELC, LW, Aero, or JC got it right...heck look at JCs first year runs vs his current and see the evolution of hides and construction...Not a JC expert by any means...just observing...

look at the hides over the years of ELC always changing some for the good some not so good...that is why they try different hides "Warhorse"..."Timeworn"..etc


A-2 flight jacket manufacturers are trying to make a stitch for stitch copy of a garment designed and worn 70 years ago...using modern tanning proccess and hardware...very hard to do...so are they creating or recreating....Skilled most definetly...Enthusiastic..for sure..passionate most certainly...

 

[Rutger]