1970s Trumpeter D-Pocket leather jacket

Posted on June 1, 2014 by Spencer Stewart

http://www.ebay.com/itm/281350988381
This vintage leather jacket was made in Spain in the 1970s and was sold under the Trumpeter label. It has a broad coat style collar, front and back yokes, side button waist adjuster tabs, patch pockets and a zipped D-pocket. The yokes give the jacket a bit of western flair, while the style of D-pocket and the pointed patch pockets are a stylistic quote from Cossack and Aviator jackets of the mid 1930s.
The jacket is tagged a size 42, but with a 42″ chest, would best fit a size 40.

Chest (pit to pit): 21″ (doubled = 42″)
Shoulder to shoulder: 18″
Sleeve (shoulder to cuff): 24″
Length (base of collar to hem): 24″

1930s Pritzker Air-O-Coat leather cossack jacket

Posted on May 31, 2014 by Spencer Stewart

http://www.ebay.com/itm/281350510684
This vintage leather jacket was made c.1936-1937 by A. Pritzker & Sons, Inc. of Boston, MA. The jacket is a Cossack style, with a fancy belted back. The 3/4 zip with 1/4 button detailing, borrowed from “Gaucho” style shirts of the period, enjoyed a brief stint of popularity in 1936-1937 before falling out of favor. Pritzker & Sons was owned by Aaron Pritzker and had a factory at 1020 Washington Street, Boston, MA. They are probably now best known for their USN G-1 flight jackets, although prior to WWII, they were a prolific maker of civilian styles. This one was sold as the “Air-O-Coat”, conjuring up the romantic imagery of 1930s aviators.

The jacket has an early Talon Hookless style grommet zipper.. The jacket is lightweight and partially lined, as is typical of these early windbreaker styles. The shoulder yoke is lined, as are the cuffs. It has a half-belt back with one of the fanciest pleated back styles I’ve seen. Pockets are D-style due to the unlined construction.
The jacket was bought by Bucky Wadon around 1937. Wadon played football, hockey and baseball during the 1930s and served in WWII.
With a 42″ chest measurement, this would best fit someone who wears a size 36 or 38 jacket. The sleeves are uncommonly long for most jackets I’ve found from this era, perfect for the taller guy. The leather is still soft and supple and the jacket is still very wearable.

Chest (pit to pit): 21″ (doubled = 42″)
Shoulder to shoulder: 18″
Sleeve (shoulder to cuff): 25-1/2″
Length (base of collar to hem): 20″

1930s Californian grommet zipper leather vest

Posted on May 31, 2014 by Spencer Stewart

http://www.ebay.com/itm/281350515618
This vintage leather vest was made by the California Sportswear Company of Los Angeles under their Californian label in the mid to late 1930s. It has an early Talon Hookless style grommet zipper and a chain and ring style Talon zip on the breast pocket, with the early style slider with the Talon script. These date it from around 1935-1938. It bears the famous Californian rising sun label, and has side adjuster belts, like those found on Californian’s half-belt leather jackets of the same period.

Chest (pit to pit): 20″ (doubled = 40″)
Length: 17-3/4″

1950s Abercrombie & Fitch leather utility jacket

Posted on May 31, 2014 by Spencer Stewart

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271509482877
This vintage leather jacket was made in the late ’40s-early 1950s and was sold by Abercrombie & Fitch, back in the days when it was an outfitter of the highest caliber. The jacket appears to have begun life all those years ago as russet brown, but has been worn and aged to the wonderful color it is now. The jacket is a cossack style, about as minimalist as they come. It has handwarmer pockets, a one piece back and side adjuster belts. The cuffs have buttoned adjusters. The zip front does up with a Talon zipper, of the type which began production in the late ’40s and were the norm throughout the 1950s.

Chest (pit to pit): 23″ (doubled = 46″)
Shoulder to shoulder: 20″
Sleeve (shoulder to cuff): 24-1/2″
Length (base of collar to hem): 25-1/2″

Vintage 1950s Buco J-82 D-pocket leather jacket

Posted on May 23, 2014 by Spencer Stewart

http://www.ebay.com/itm/281345326835
This vintage leather jacket was made by the Joseph Buegeleisen Company of Detroit Michigan, in the mid-late 1950s. The J-82 model was introduced by Buco c. 1955, and going by the style of Talon zippers on this example, it dates from this 1950s time frame. Although this jacket was cut down into a vest by its original biker owner, the detailing of the J-82 model is highly distinctive and makes it immediately recognizable. The jacket is made of heavy steerhide leather, with a D-pocket (also known as a pistol pocket or a map pocket). Whereas many other D-pocket models had a patch cigarette pocket overtop the map pocket, the J-82 had a cleaner design, leaving that pocket uncluttered. There is a zipper breast pocket, somewhat of a holdover from aviator jacket styles of the 1940s, and a zippered slash handwarmer style pocket. The jacket has an attached belt, with a blacked out metal buckle and a metal tipped belt end to make threading it through easier. The belt loops and all pockets are reinforced and embellished with nickel plated rectangular high-dome studwork. The lapels snap down and there are additional snaps that a mouton collar could have originally been attached to. The jacket has a bi-swing back. The main zipper is a no.5 Talon of 1950s design, and all pocket zippers are bell-shaped Talons.
Wear this jacket over a denim jacket or like Lee Marvin in The Wild One over a striped shirt.

Chest (pit to pit): 19″
Length (base of collar to hem): 23″
Waist: 17″

Original Perry A-2 horsehide flight jacket

Posted on May 22, 2014 by Spencer Stewart

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271501781667
This vintage leather flight jacket was made by the Perry Sportswear company of Newburgh, New York. It is made of horsehide leather. The jacket has a pinlock Conmar zipper, United Carr ball-style snaps and grommets under the arms. The pockets have square reinforcement stitching, rounded corners, and shallowly scalloped pocket flaps. The arm has some period artwork on it for the 5th Air Corps. Unlike most, which were painted, this one is branded onto the leather.

Chest (pit to pit): 41″
Shoulder to shoulder: 17-1/2″
Sleeve (shoulder to cuff): 20-1/2″ (missing knit cuffs, so will be longer once replaced)
Length (base of collar to end of waistband): 23-1/2″

Monarch horsehide barnstormer leather jacket

Posted on May 16, 2014 by Spencer Stewart

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271493775559
This vintage jacket was made by Monarch Mfg. of Milwaukee WI in the late 1930s or early 1940s. It is a belted, double breasted style. This has since come to be known among collectors as a barnstormer style, named after the aviators of the 1920s who wore similar styles. The jacket is made of russet horsehide, with a 3×6 double breasted front. There are handwarmer pockets (known originally as “muff” pockets), as well as flapped cargo pockets. These have deeply scalloped pocket flaps. The jacket is lined with blanket wool in the body, with quilted shoulders and sleeves. The U shaped seam between the two lining materials is a detail I have only seen on other Monarch jackets. The label is of a style used in the 1930s through about the end of WWII. The leather has some really incredible grain, highlighted by decades of usage. The treatment of the seams is unusual. Whereas most jackets, leather or otherwise, will have a seam at the edge of the jacket, or on the edge of the lapels, this one minimizes them by folding the leather around to form the front and back panel.

The Monarch Manufacturing Company was founded in 1892 by Paul Asch. In 1917, they relocated to a new factory, located at 246 East Chicago St., Milwaukee, WI. They built at least four more factories in Milwaukee, employing over a thousand workers by 1922. Throughout the life of the company, they specialized in leather, sheepskin and fabric outerwear for men and boys. They produced A-2 contracts during WWII.

Chest (pit to pit): 23″
Shoulder to shoulder: 18″
Sleeve (shoulder to cuff): 26-1/2″
Length (collar seam to hem): 30″

1930s capeskin half-belt cossack jacket

Posted on April 28, 2014 by Spencer Stewart

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271469478475
This vintage leather jacket was made around 1936. It is made of lightweight capeskin leather, with a perforated Ostrich grain texture, popular briefly in 1936 and 1937. The jacket is an early cossack style, with a leather waistband and D-stitched pockets. The back is belted, with side adjusters, and is pleated. Cuffs are adjustable with two buttons. The jacket has an early Talon riveted “grommet” zipper, a style which started production in 1930, and continued through the 1930s. This one is missing its original slider, though at this date of manufacturer, it probably had a Talon branded fantail style slider. The jacket has a transitional half-lining. While it is constructed like the unlined leather jackets of the early 1930s, it is lined in the shoulders and sleeves. The lining remains, but it has shredded at most of the points where it attaches to the leather itself.

Chest (pit to pit): 20″ (doubled = 40″)
Shoulder to shoulder: 16-1/2″
Sleeve (shoulder to cuff): 24″
Length (base of collar to hem):22″

Photos from 1936 and 1937 Sears catalog, showing similar Sears Hercules ostrich grained models. Jacket is similar to models in advertisements, though differs in back pleat detailing.

1960s Sears D-Pocket motorcycle jacket

Posted on April 25, 2014 by Spencer Stewart

http://www.ebay.com/itm/281318786990
This vintage D-Pocket leather motorcycle jacket was sold by Sears in the late 1960s-early 1970s. Sears introduced their D-Pocket motorcycle jacket model in the late 1940s. A simplified version, made of Steerhide instead of the Horsehide of the original came along in 1953. The model continued to be produced into the early 1970s with few changes. Although all sold by Sears, these were sold under a variety of Sears house brand labels, including Allstate, Sears Outerwear, Sears Fieldmaster, Oakbrook Sportswear and several versions of The Leather Shop label. The label, the hardware, and subtleties of the design help pin down the date of manufacture.

The jacket is made from black steerhide, with a D-Pocket (originally known as a map pocket and also known as a pistol pocket). The pocket on these 1960s models continue to the side seam. There is a smaller flapped cigarette pocket, and a zipper handwarmer/ slash cargo pocket on the other side. The jacket has a red nylon lining, Serval zippers, epaulettes, and a zipper at the collar for a detachable mouton collar. In a tradition dating back to the days of cowboys, and passed down through generations of bikers, the back of the jacket and the epaulettes have been embellished with stud work, in three sizes of studs.

Tagged size: 42
Chest (pit to pit): 23″ (doubled = 46″)
Shoulder to shoulder: 19″
Sleeve (shoulder to cuff): 25″
Length (base of collar to hem): 23-1/2″

1949

1958

1968

1972

1960s Suede Trucker Jacket

Posted on March 31, 2014 by Spencer Stewart

http://www.ebay.com/itm/281298801105
This vintage suede leather jacket was made in the 1960s or 1970s. It is made in a two pocket trucker style- the leather version of a classic denim jacket. It is snap front and unlined.

Chest (pit to pit): 22″ (doubled = 44″)
Shoulder to shoulder: 19″
Sleeve (shoulder to cuff): 23-1/2″
Length (base of collar to hem): 23″

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Category Archives: Leather

1970s Trumpeter D-Pocket leather jacket

1930s Pritzker Air-O-Coat leather cossack jacket

1930s Californian grommet zipper leather vest

1950s Abercrombie & Fitch leather utility jacket

Vintage 1950s Buco J-82 D-pocket leather jacket

Original Perry A-2 horsehide flight jacket

Monarch horsehide barnstormer leather jacket

1930s capeskin half-belt cossack jacket

1960s Sears D-Pocket motorcycle jacket

1960s Suede Trucker Jacket