WW2 A-2 flight jacket-POUGHKEEPSIE-1942-SIZE-40

http://cgi.ebay.ca/WW2-A-2-flight-jacke ... 1c0e195c67

Another A-2 from Contrailchaser.

And a real nice one too.

Good seller. Great patch.

Funny how if you were going to trade on your good name and sell faked jackets you'd think you'd at least cover your tracks a little better.
Feeback as a buyer left on the 9th Oct 2009. A lot of other interesting Craft orientated things in there as well.
http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie ... 0350280229

There's the evidence.

The artwork is yet another example of the particular sanded and cracked paintwork that I (and a few others) have come to expect and only ever appears his jackets, whether CBI or ETO.

"one of the most beautifully executed nose art girls I have ever seen on an A-2. Nose art girls on A-2s are very rare and are usually amatuerishly painted. This one, on the other hand, is very pleasing to the eye and must have been painted by a very skilled artist. "

Oh i'm sure he knows him well. :lol:

Some poor bugger's yet again paying big bucks for some nice cobbled together bits and pieces.

Andrew said:

Funny how if you were going to trade on your good name and sell faked jackets you'd think you'd at least cover your tracks a little better.
Feeback as a buyer left on the 9th Oct 2009. A lot of other interesting Craft orientated things in there as well.
http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie ... 0350280229

There's the evidence.

Click to expand...

Wow, nice piece of detective work. No doubt the CBI patch is the one on the jacket. Amazing the things that people will stoop to in order to make a buck. It's bad enough the guy is disrespecting and defrauding his buyers, but he's also wrecking pieces of history along the way. Shameful.

Some poor bugger's yet again paying big bucks for some nice cobbled together bits and pieces.

Click to expand...

It's a darn shame really. When I first got to know JC about 6 or 7 years ago, I would have never imagined this.
It actually kind of dissapoints and saddens me. It's as clear as can be with the rubbing and sanding of the paint
on every jacket offered, that every jacket sold by him on Ebay over the last 2 or 3 years has been a fake.
More reason to have that extra provenance if you plan to drop big money on patched/painted originals. Be smart!

YIKES Busted !

I've purchased two jackets from him, and they were both as advertised.
One was a Jerome painted Aero jacket that I lucked into for $ 430

http://www.picturetrail.com/sfx/album/view/3107177
and the other was a "artistically" damaged painted Real McCoy jacket (the Japanese artist sandpapered the hell out of the leather). I was more interested in the artwork so the condition of the jacket was secondary. It would have been better if he'd left the finish on the jacket as is...but you know artists. :roll:

I too am deeply saddened if this is the case but unfortunately I have had suspicions some time back with an early 1960's G-1 that had patches, one of which did correspond with an identical patch he had recently purchased on eBay; I couldn't prove it for sure and I always found him to be an honourable man in my previous dealings so as always give the benefit of the doubt. I did bid on this A-2 so am pleased to have found out before bidding any further, I had also bid on the B-3 that just finished fetching a very handsome sum, I bid no more when I queried the circular patch on the shoulder that wasn't mentioned in the listing, he did acknowledge it via 'question for seller' and stated it was a possible depot repair for oxygen tab hole(?). I did feel it should have been stated from the outset but hope the other bidders saw it and didn't feel it affected their interest. This is an important topic and could have serious repurcussions for any previous jackets sold on eBay by him, let's hope it hasn't always been so.

He must be very confident, to show all those close ups of the paintwork.

It's a real shame JCS has had the art work faked as the picture is appealing. It's revealing that the new-looking black painted outline is perfect, with no obvious wear, which would not be the case had it been painted in the War. Someone will be very angry if they discover this disception after buying the A2.

I do not believe the jacket is a Poughkeepsie, but an Aero. You can see that the label has been hand sewn and there is reinforcement stitching on the female side at the base of the zipper, which was not used on Poughkeepsie jackets. I believe this is largely a put together jacket. The patch is a recent addition judging by the new appearance of the stitching.

I find it interesting that this topic doesn't elicit a stronger response from this group. Last time it was raised it just faded away. I suppose there wasn't any definative proof before. I'm going to contact eBay about it as it's totally dishonest. Yes he is a respected collector but really how can people turn a blind eye to this.

You're right Andrew. It's an outrageous deception from a formerly respected seller and ex forum member. Many people are probably refraining from commenting until there is 100% proof and others, like myself, are no doubt sad that someone we respected would do this, and not for the first time. What annoys me most is that doctoring a jacket like that is creating false history. As this jacket and others like it are passed on over the years it will become set in stone that such and such wore this jacket in WW2 and that's what it looked like. It annoys me that someone supposedly interested in preserving history would do that. By all means contact ebay but it won't do any good cause they don't give a shit. Sadly, they, like contrailchaser are only interested in making money.

I believe Poughkeepsie jackets don't have the diagonal zipper reinforcement on the zipper box....but then I'm no A-2 expert by any means.......BTW I have dealt with J.C. in the past (only selling, not buying) and found him to be excellent to work with. I guess I'd want to hear his side of the story before I draw any opinions.

Hacker

hacker said:

I believe Poughkeepsie jackets don't have the diagonal zipper reinforcement on the zipper box....but then I'm no A-2 expert by any means.......BTW I have dealt with J.C. in the past (only selling, not buying) and found him to be excellent to work with. I guess I'd want to hear his side of the story before I draw any opinions.

Hacker

Click to expand...

What side of the story would you like to hear? How the patches were put on, or who painted it? :roll: If you go to the other thread started by Andrew a few months ago, the proof is all there for whoever wants to see it. A sad reality I hate to say!

TankBuster said:

hacker said:

I believe Poughkeepsie jackets don't have the diagonal zipper reinforcement on the zipper box....but then I'm no A-2 expert by any means.......BTW I have dealt with J.C. in the past (only selling, not buying) and found him to be excellent to work with. I guess I'd want to hear his side of the story before I draw any opinions.

Hacker

Click to expand...

What side of the story would you like to hear? How the patches were put on, or who painted it? :roll: If you go to the other thread started by Andrew a few months ago, the proof is all there for whoever wants to see it. A sad reality I hate to say!

Click to expand...

Well, actually yes to your question..... I apologize for my poor choice in words. I did not mean draw an "opinion". I guess I have no problem with that. Passing judgment, now that might be something else. I guess it seemed to me that perhaps we should hear both sides before passing sentence......ehhh.........hang 'um high Andy.......

Wow....nice detective work Andrew. There's no doubt that CBI patch is the same. I just did a side by side and even had the wife look. That is the same patch now for sale on that Poughkeepsie/Aero, whatever it really is. It would be an amazing coincidence for all those hand-made details, stitch lines, wrinkles and color spots to be exactly the same on two totally unique patches.

That is truly disgusting. If this ex-member was one of the "esteemed" collectors who left because of opinions of a few, it got too boring, too Goodwear repro focused....etc.... Then, good riddance. I don't want this place used as a medium for anyone to build up a false reputation as a trusted expert only to mask fraudulent activities and assume that by reputation alone our group will give a free pass.

-Kevin

Andrew said:

I find it interesting that this topic doesn't elicit a stronger response from this group. Last time it was raised it just faded away. I suppose there wasn't any definative proof before. I'm going to contact eBay about it as it's totally dishonest. Yes he is a respected collector but really how can people turn a blind eye to this.

Click to expand...

I agree with you Andrew; I have been stewing over this and have to say it has got me very angry, as I said, I initially bid on this jacket and thank you and the forum for preventing me really splashing out on what is a real dud. I don't recall your last post previously about his jackets (I should really read all posts!), as I said, a year or more back I had my suspicions but couldn't bring myself to think someone I had dealt with and thought well of could change (or maybe it was always so) for the bad. I guess I am also angry that I hadn't looked back on his feedback for what he'd bought, I usually do that but not for this jacket, a lesson learnt. The fabrication of jacket history was going on when I first started collecting in the late 1970's/early '80's, one of the first genuine A-2's I bought turned out to have had faked artwork, patches and even nametag, it cost me several weeks' wages at the time. Someone is going to end up with this jacket costing them the equivalent and that is a real crime in all meanings of the word.

I reported it to Ebay and also sent a question to him asking to explain. We'll see if i get a response.