Vic's Ac 23379 Dubow size 42

[Roughwear]

Here is a post about Victor's (Silver Surfer) amazing Dubow 23379. In his own words it

was worn by Francis Goldsberry, and i have included pix of him wearing his jac in both wwll and post war. Except for the knit mothing and darning, the jacket is in exceptional condition, in and out. The jac is interesting on a couple of accounts. There were a fair amount of the contract produced, yet they seem to have become nearly extinct. as i mentioned on the forum, the hides are buttery soft [obviously well taken care of].

 

[Silver Surfer]

thanx, andrew for putting the pix up. i dont know why, but according to garys book, 10,000 a-2s of this contract were ordered, yet i, as other collectors will tell you, they are rarely ever seen. perhaps the 23379 contract dec 1941] was never completed, as it falls between the 20960 [aug 1941] contract, and the ubiquitous 27798 [april 1942] contract. the jacket is buttery soft, and when i got it, i thought that it might be made of goat, as the grain if pretty fine through out. however, i have a 27798 made of goat, and the the difference is obvious. except for mothing, and darning to the knits, the jacket is in excellent condition, in and out. the pix show the jacket to be a little lighter in color then it is. i would say the the best description of the color is a darker russet, or a light seal. of some interest is the fact that this contract was made with stand collars and simple collars. for the most part, this contract had crown #5 zippers. in garys book, there is a pic of a kwik fantail zipper with the caption, "can be found with the kwik w-39 fantail". however, the zipper on my jac is a kwik m-40 pin lock [rectangle puller], and it is original to the jacket, and, i might add, in excellent condition. although the jacket is not as narrow at the waist as andrews 20960, it is not as full as a 27798. all in all the jacket is nicely tailored, well made, and a robust wearer. the photos of francis goldsberry are originals [not reproduced], and show him wearing the jacket during wwll and later in the 1980s.

 

[Roughwear]

Thanks Vic. I know the contract was for 10,000 jackets, but like you am surprised so few are around today. I suspect the order was completed otherwise why would Dubow have been awarded a contract for 50,000 a few months later? It is possible that a consignment of the jackets went down with a ship, but as they were made in batches over a period of several months this would still not account for why so few are around today. Maybe an avid collector bought up most of them post War and is stockpiling them!!!

 

[Silver Surfer]

hahahaha, i like it. odd that there were contracts made in 10k+ range and there are few to be found today. yet, the doni contract was for 5k, and they pop up fairly frequently.

 

[Roughwear]

I think one of the reasons that Donigers are seen more frequently these days than some other larger contracts is the high quality goatskin used by this maker resulting in many more surviving. Unlike Spiewak and Cable for example I have yet to see a Doniger with red rot.

 

[dmar836]

Great A-2! You can tell, from the pics, that he took great pride in it. You are fortunate to have become the current guardian.
Dave

 

[dujardin]

splendid

good catch