Jacket worn by Lewisgun officer...eBay

[dutchbarge]

Hello,

Although I bid and lost, I'd be only too happy to share my research with the new owner of eBay item 'jacket worn by Lewis gun officer' sold by Second Front. Investigation of LG exerpts link the signature on the field note with an officer of the 2/4 Ox & Bucks (later seconded to the MGC) whose unit's battle flash was a red circle.

Cheers, BIll

[wainfleet]

I saw Dunand's jacket and thought it was a good thing. Ok, it had things against it, ie condition and one missing sign, but someone did very well to get an officer's "Tommy tunic" for under £500. A real rarity that slipped under the radar. It can still happen!

[dutchbarge]

I saw Dunand's jacket and thought it was a good thing. Ok, it had things against it, ie condition and one missing sign, but someone did very well to get an officer's "Tommy tunic" for under £500. A real rarity that slipped under the radar. It can still happen!

Indeed. As I only collect officer's kit I found an OR's jacket with a tantalizing connection to an officer very interesting. So I did an evening's research on the identity of the name on the field note, A.Dunand (only two Dunands in the LG, the other resigned in 1916) and found that 2nd Lt. A.Dunard began his career in 1916 with the 2/4 Oxs and Bucks (61st Div, 184th Bgde). Being second in order of seniority in the 184th Bgde they would have had a red circle as their battle flash. So the red 'disc' and 2 pips would be a match for Dunand up to 1918 when he was seconded to the MGC (probably, assuming that the jacket was indeed his, the reason the battle flashes were removed). The winning bid wasn't much more than my own. The jacket's condition didn't bother me too much, most of the darning looks to have been period done giving it a salty, been there look (and I've got a set of officer's web gear that would have been a perfect fit on a mannequin display). My reservation was that the only provenance of the jacket itself was the note in its pocket signed by Dunand. I couldn't satisfactorily answer my question of why would the note be in the author's pocket and not somewhere else. A niggling concern probably....especially as I know the vendor, Jeff Schrader , to be impeccably honest and very well informed. After the fact I'm thinking perhaps I should have pushed my bid up. But, regardless, someone certainly got a fantastic bargain, officer connection or not.

Cheers, Bill

[wainfleet]

A very good point about the note. Maybe it wasn't Dunand's jacket after all. Maybe he had sent the note to another officer in the OBLI!

Even so, the whole thing just had that "right" feel about it. I felt sure it was what it purported to be, whoever it had belonged to. If I didn't have an officer's OR's jacket I would have bid over the final selling price for it.

[tocemma]

Hadn't seen that one,

Could someone post the images for interests sake?

Tocemma

[wainfleet]

Here's the item:

http://cgi.ebay.com/WWI-Service-Dress-Jack...=item563ba2a35d

Add: From the bid history, it looks as if $810 would have secured it.

[tocemma]

WF,

Thanks for posting.

Looks real enough and reasonable price-wise I suppose, the problem is, would you stitch the items back on or leave them in the pocket (whichever one they were in)

Bit of an odball item and I don't think I would have bought it, however convincing the circumstantial evidence. It's neither an untouched SD jacket or an Officers 'Funk jacket' Difficult one this! Safest course would be 'a stripped jacket, possibly once worn by an Officer, and preserved as is' Hmmm, what would that be worth?

I seem to recall a Tank Corps jacket that we both are aware of. It turned up at the old Charing Cross market with the 'insignia in the pocket' It was heavily oil stained and I have no reason to doubt the word of the person who bought it and stitched the insignia back on (a well respected collector) But, is the resulting jacket a replica of the original? Even it was the genuine insignia? I have no wish to examine the wider aspects of this ie how do we know for certain whether anything we have is genuine, but just the precise examples quoted here.

Although I had the TC jacket for some time, this was eventually the criteria for parting with it.

One to chew on!

Tocemma

[dutchbarge]

Here's the item:

http://cgi.ebay.com/WWI-Service-Dress-Jack...=item563ba2a35d

Add: From the bid history, it looks as if $810 would have secured it.

I think this one, to the benefit of the winner, somehow slipped past the usual crush of bidders. My first thought was that OR's kit being more sought after than officer, the item's description (Lewis gun officer) put some collectors off. Perhaps however, the economy has tempered collecting ardor for the moment? At any rate bidding on eBay is very tricky to predict. The winning bidder in this instance may well have had entered a reserve bid of a much greater amount than the actual winning bid which, fortunately for the winner, was not tested by other bidders. I have been keen to acquire items on which after entering several 'higher' bids found to my consternation that the current high bidder's reserve bid automatically trumped me repeatedly.......at some point I just back off suspecting that the high bidder was prepared to go the whole nine yards to get his item whatever the cost. Something to reflect on............anything you win on eBay is, at least at the moment of winning, the highest price the world was willing to pay for that item.

Cheers, Bill

[dutchbarge]

A very good point about the note. Maybe it wasn't Dunand's jacket after all. Maybe he had sent the note to another officer in the OBLI!

Even so, the whole thing just had that "right" feel about it. I felt sure it was what it purported to be, whoever it had belonged to. If I didn't have an officer's OR's jacket I would have bid over the final selling price for it.

Agree....it just oozed 'been there'. Oh well, just like buses, if you miss one there'll be another along in a bit.

Cheers, Bill

[Peter Doyle]

If I hadn't have bought that Gor'blimey...

[scottmarchand]

I wouldn't have been too enthusiastic about this set, I would only consider it a generic OR's Service Drees of indeterminant usage that happened to have insignia with it and then priced accordingly, which is about what the ultimate price reflects. The only thing that can conclusively be linked to the officer in question is the letter, nothing else and that could have been combined anytime int he past 90 years. If you have to workl to hard to make the story fit view it with a critical eye and avoid it if you want real provenance.

[dutchbarge]

I wouldn't have been too enthusiastic about this set, I would only consider it a generic OR's Service Drees of indeterminant usage that happened to have insignia with it and then priced accordingly, which is about what the ultimate price reflects. The only thing that can conclusively be linked to the officer in question is the letter, nothing else and that could have been combined anytime int he past 90 years. If you have to workl to hard to make the story fit view it with a critical eye and avoid it if you want real provenance.

Hello Scott,

Good advice.....most serious collectors have learned the hard way to pay only for the item they hold in their hands, not the stories that come it.

Cheers, Bill