Poughkeepsie 28560

[chamboid]

This arrived in the post today, a Poughkeepsie A-2 from their singular and large 1942 contract, with help identifying from JC. They are very similar to Aero. The jacket is in pretty good condition with only the cuff knits showing noticable ware and the missing lable. To my eyes I'm pretty sure this is made with steerhide from feel, and graining. I am really surprised at how thin and light the leather is, with an interesting feature, by fault or design is the leather on the sleeves being thicker and tougher than that of the body.





It has an interesting 1930's talon zipper pull on a 1942 chain and stopper, with no sign of it havinf been replaced at the top stoppers. Nice little quirk I like.



And a period repair by the left collar snap which I think must have been done in manufacting, seems like the snap was positioned wrong them re-positioned and the slit stitched up with the Light OD thread used on this jacket.



The jacket measured like and was described as being a 36, sadly it's not, I do wish people would measure things intelligently. It comes up much more like a 40, but doesn't look too bad.





It's a nice jacket, with a simple construction, and style I like the collar shape and epualette stitching very much. But would have preferred it to fit. Seen as the knits aren't in too bader shape I think I'll leave them but get a repro lable to see in the kneck

 

[TankBuster]

Very nice. You even have some room to add a few pounds with it.

 

[Roughwear]

Very nice indeed! It is known that cowhide was used in this contract and I too suspect that this is what your jacket is made from. It is certainly a generous fit and good to layer under in the winter. The contract was for 50,000 jackets and it is no surprise that jackets from this contract often come up for sale. The leather appears to be in good order. You mention the leather being thicker on the sleeves than the body. On one of my Poughkeepsies the leather is thinner on the sleeves, so I guess it just depended on how the skins were cut. It looks like the zip slider was replaced at some stage with a pre-War fantail Talon.

 

[chamboid]

It is a lovely jacket, though, thinkni'll move it on at some point. And the leather is in great condition. But so thin? Much much thinner than the Dubow I have Andrew.

The zipper pull doesn't seem to have been replaced at all, as the top stops are perfect.

Here's a picture showing some more of the grain.

 

[Roughwear]

Poughkeespies had either M-41 or M-42 Talon zips fitted on them in the factory. The current Talon fantail slider is very nice, but is very unlikely to have been fitted in the factory. It is very easy to replace a zip slider without leaving any trace of the change. You just remove the top stopper on the female side, remove the slider, replace it and put the stopper back, squeezing the sides together with pliers. I have one it many times!

 

[chamboid]

Yes, there's normally a few tale take signs though.

Did you see my Dubow Andrew. Very pleased with this one.

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=17071

 

[Roughwear]

Yes I did. It's a jacket of tremendous character and a perfect fit. Originals are usually seen in the size 36-40 range, although I have heard that a larger sized one exists.

 

[blackrat2]

Very nice jacket...that is huge compared to your other recent post...goes to show the different cuts and styles of the various makers

 

[Silver Surfer]

or, as it happened, mislabeled.