1933-1935 Frankoat oatmeal tweed overcoat

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271994222328
This vintage jacket was made between 1933 and 1935 by Frank Brothers under their Frankoat label. It is made of midweight oatmeal tweed with a great orange fleck running through it. It has a three button front with caramel colored buttons, raglan shoulders and notch lapels. It bears an incredibly rare Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America label, used only between 1933 and 1935. A new label was issued by the ACWofA in 1936, and again in 1939. The coat is half lined and has the name of the original owner, Gilbert Harrington, sewn inside.

Chest (pit to pit): 23-1/2″ (doubled = 47″)
Center of collar to end of cuff): 34″
Length (Base of collar to hem): 46-1/2″

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Early 1930s cut down Cossack Jacket

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271934443374
This vintage jacket was made in the early 1930s, probably between about 1930 and 1934. This style, with the plain back, side panels with buckle adjusters, leather waistband and small patch pockets, was one of the first jacket styles to become popular following the invention of the separable bottomed zipper in 1930. The jacket has a buttoned throat latch / chinstrap, and while the zipper is a 1950s Conmar, replacing what would likely have been a double branded Hookless/Talon, the grommets from the original zip are still in place at the waistband.

Chest (pit to pit): 18″ (doubled = 36″)
Shoulder to shoulder: 15″
Length (base of collar to hem): 23-1/2″

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c. 1935 Congress Sportswear half-zip, half button point blanket mackinaw coat

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271624812561
This vintage coat was made c.1935 by Congress Sportswear and would likely have been sold under the “Maine Guide” label. This is a highly unusual and short lived style produced by Congress, with a half-zip, half-button front. The bottom half zipped up with a Talon grommet zipper, and the top with a 3×6 double breasted closure, which can be buttoned closed, buttoned like coat lapels, or open like 19th century military uniforms. The coat has a zip hood, which can be folded up and snapped (with early United Carr snaps) to form a collar. The coat is unlined, as is typical of these early mackinaw coats, and has taped seams.
The coat is readily identifiable as a Congress Sportswear product by several details. Congress was one of the only manufacturers to produce this half-and-half style, but details, like the un-hemmed bottom edge, and the contrast pocket trim and cuff adjusters are unique to Maine Guide products. These coats were produced by Congress for several other house labels, namely Abercombie and Fitch.
The coat is made from Hudson’s Bay Company point blanket, with a 1930s label. This fabric was, at the time, one of the most expensive wool fabrics available for high-end outdoors garments. The zipper is identifiable as being manufactured in the mid 1930s by its bell shape, the deco rays found both on the slider and the pull and by the oval shaped attachment piece between the slider and pull, which had been replaced by the later 1930s by a square sided bersion. The grommets of the grommet zipper, as well as the primitive stop-box, are still in place, although the current zipper, slightly shorter than the original, can be identified as a later production model Talon by its rounded edged pull and stop-box design.

Chest (pit to pit): 24″ (doubled = 48″)
Shoulder to shoulder: 18″
Sleeve (shoulder to cuff): 24″
Length (Base of collar to hem): 36-1/2″

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Early 1930s Woolrich 503 Mackinaw coat

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271423336178
This vintage hunting coat was made in Woolrich, Pennsylvania in the early 1930s by John Rich / Woolrich Woolen Mills. The 503 style hunting coat as been around with relatively few changes for the better part of a century, but the details make it easy to date. This is the earliest version of this coat I have seen.

While many Woolrich labels look relatively similar in isolation, the company changed their design every few years. This label was used in the very early 1930s. See the dating guide I have put together at the end of the auction. The snaps in this coat are by United Carr, and are a design only used from about 1930-1934. The top of the snap, with its line design, was used by Woolrich until about 1940. They switched to plain headed snaps during WWII, then to Woolrich branded snaps after the war. These early coats have asymmetrical breast pockets, while starting in the late 1950s, Woolrich switched to matching breast pockets. The brown buttons on this early coat are nicer than the red bakelite buttons which Woolrich began to use in the mid 1930s, which has a tendency to craze and crack over time.

Chest (pit to pit): 25″
Shoulder to shoulder: 20″
Sleeve (shoulder to cuff): 25″
Length (base of collar to hem): 28″

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1930s Grommet Zipper half-belt leather jacket

http://www.ebay.com/itm/281272035995
This vintage leather jacket was made in the mid 1930s. It is made from capeskin leather, rough side out. As was typical of these early-mid 1930s lightweight half-belt windbreaker styles, this one is unlined. It has an riveted “grommet” Talon zipper, a style which was produced from the early-mid 1930s, before being joined, then replaced by the deco “sunburst” style stopbox. The slider is an early style, with rays on the slider, a small hole puller, and an attachment section which is more oval shaped than those produced later in the 1930s. The jacket is a waist length Cossack style, and has a fancy pleated, belted back with side adjuster belts.

Chest (pit to pit): 21″
Shoulder to shoulder: 16-3/4″
Sleeve (shoulder to cuff): 26″
Length (base of collar to hem): 21″

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Mid 1930s half-belt leather jacket

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271391483127
This vintage leather jacket was made in the mid 1930, probably in Wisconsin judging by the materials and construction. It is an early half-belt / cossack style. It can be dated to this point both by style and by hardware. By style: In the late 1920s and early 1930s, a full leather waistband was prevalent. The fancy belted back started to gain traction in the mid 1930s, but the front still retained the bottom panels found on this jacket. By the end of the 1930s, most makers had abandoned these panels for a cleaner look. Stylistically this dates from that middle period. By hardware: The full length separable zipper was first found on jackets made 1930. The “sunburst” deco Talon stopbox found on this jacket joined the riveted style stopbox around the midpoint of the decade, eventually supplanting it in Talon’s product line, before disappearing itself in the early 1940s. So that narrows the date down between about 1935 and 1942. The snaps are made by United Carr. These are of a style which I have not seen on anything beyond the mid 1930s, with the spring section of the fastener appearing on the male side of the snap.
This jacket has been worn extremely hard. The cuffs and collar have been worn through, and a hole has been worn through on the side. That was repaired what looks like some decades ago, but the repair has worn out as well. The lining is missing, and the zipper is missing both the slider and the bottom couple inches of the teeth and tape on the male side. There is paint on the skirt beneath the belt.

Chest (pit to pit): 23″ (doubled = 46″)
Shoulder to shoulder: 18″
Sleeve (shoulder to cuff): 25″
Length: 26″

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Guiterman Bros 1930s Town and Country leather jacket

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271307079241
This vintage leather jacket was made in the early to mid 1930s by Guiterman Brothers, under the Town and Country label. The company was founded in 1883, and began the “Town and Country” line in 1904. They produced flying coats for US aviators during World War One, and pioneered early civilian leather jacket designs starting in the 1910s. In c. 1928, the company was bought out by Gordon and Ferguson, who continued the line. This jacket as a rare early example of a button-front Cossack jacket. Early Cossack jackets, c. 1930-c.1934 generally featured leather waistband and plain backs. This is an early example of the transitional style, retaining the collar, cuff and pocket detailing from the early jackets, but moving away into what would become the half-belt jackets of the later 1930s-1950s. The back is belted, with bi-swing shoulders and side adjusters. The front still has an old style button front, instead of a hookless zipper. The jacket buttons right over left, which, along with the shoulder darts, identify this as a women’s jacket. Other than these details, early on, men’s and women’s styles were generally extremely similar patterns. As was typical of many of these early jackets, this one is made with the suede side out. For jackets of this style, it wasn’t until later in the 1930s that weight started to become a major concern. These were really designed as lightweight leather windbreakers for sporting activities. Gordon and Ferguson had the exclusive rights to the Cravenette process for leather, and it is employed on this one.

Chest (pit to pit): 20″
Shoulder to shoulder: 16-1/2″
Sleeve (shoulder to cuff): 24″
Length: 23″

 

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NRA labeled Miller cowboy hat

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271309667400
This vintage cowboy hat was made in the early 1930s and was sold by Miller of Denver, Colorado. It is NRA (National Recovery Administration) tagged, which dates it manufacture between 1933 to 1935. Under the sweatband is a Lot number, of the type used by Stetson on their sweatbands. Comparing this number to others found on NRA tagged hats places this one on the early end of the 1933-35 spectrum. I addition to hats under their own name, Miller was a large distributer of Stetson hats. With a type of sweatband so far only known to be used by Stetson this could have been produced under license by Stetson for Miller. The reorder tag is of a generic type with no maker’s name, so it’s a bit of a mystery. The hat is marked XXXX quality, and has the gold “Miller Fine Hats Denver Colorado” bucking bronco logo embossed on the leather. The sweatband has a taped rear seam, and appears to have received very little wear.

Size: 6-7/8
Brim Width: 4″
Ribbon Width: 1″
Crown Height: 6-1/2″

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1930s zip-off topper swimsuit

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271226435642
This vintage bathing suit was made in the mid 1930s. This was a transitional time between the age of one or two piece men’s bathing suits, and that of topless bathing suits. The top is detachable on this one via a Kwik zipper, which bears patents no 1752111, 1814244, and a third which is somewhat difficult to read. The trunks have a diamond gusseted crotch and belt loops. The top is striped.

Waist (unstretched): 8″ (doubled = 16″)
Waist (stretched): 12″ (doubled = 24″)
Side seam: 9″
Rise: 12″

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Union Labels

An extremely rough guide to union tags. There are other unions whose tags are not represented here. Companies and tailors used what tags they had on hand, so there is overlap between different patterns of tags, and there are always exceptions and flukes.

1883 (1883-?)
NRA (1933-1936)

1934 (1934-1936) Not pictured: same as 1936 and 1939 tags
1936 (1936-1939)
1939 (1939-1949)
1949 (1949-1962)
1949 variant (1962-c.1976 ) I’ve seen examples of these on menswear dated into the 1980s, despite the union merging to form the ACTWU in 1976.

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