The seller is in France https://ebay.us/JAh4md
He's offering a "Blouson pilote Luftwaffe 2ème guerre mondiale....Cuir souple, insignes remontés sur ce blouson de prise où ils avaient été grossièrement arrachés, marquage intéressant au bas du dos à l'intérieur. Fermeture ZIP en état de fonctionnement. Pièce émouvante d'un pilote capturé"
Google Translate says this means "WWII Luftwaffe pilot jacket .... Soft leather, insignia reassembled on this jacket where they had been roughly torn off, interesting marking on the lower back inside. Zip closure in working order. Touching piece of a captured pilot.* So the badges were ripped off and replaced with repros? I can't tell.
If it were authentic with provenance about the captured pilot I reckon it would be worth well into four figures. So it all seems unlikely. It's hard to authenticate private purchase Luftwaffe jackets. There must have been a lot of them, because there weren't any issued ones until late in the war, according to Lewis Leathers:
"Purpose made flying jackets weren't issued to the Luftwaffe until late in the war, so pilots bought their own and, among other places, they could be purchased at La Samaritain department store in Paris during the occupation."
From https://www.lewisleathers.com/199.html#:~:text=The Battle Of Britain was,by German pilots in WW2. Anyone have a view on this?
This jacket looks nothing like the issued ones I've seen on the web, but it's not dissimilar to the BoB ones made by Lewis. But...if it was private purchase, why would it have a Luftwaffe stamp on the lining?
I asked the seller for the chest size, which he said is 96 cm, or 38 inches, which he said was 'L' in those days. Too small for me. Anyway, I think it's a fake. The seller's other items don't reassure me. But I can't resist asking for more details, so I've asked "Do you have any evidence about the pilot? Photos or letters or something? Do you think the marking is genuine? If the jacket is genuine, the pilot would have bought it himself." Waiting for a reply.
He's offering a "Blouson pilote Luftwaffe 2ème guerre mondiale....Cuir souple, insignes remontés sur ce blouson de prise où ils avaient été grossièrement arrachés, marquage intéressant au bas du dos à l'intérieur. Fermeture ZIP en état de fonctionnement. Pièce émouvante d'un pilote capturé"
Google Translate says this means "WWII Luftwaffe pilot jacket .... Soft leather, insignia reassembled on this jacket where they had been roughly torn off, interesting marking on the lower back inside. Zip closure in working order. Touching piece of a captured pilot.* So the badges were ripped off and replaced with repros? I can't tell.
If it were authentic with provenance about the captured pilot I reckon it would be worth well into four figures. So it all seems unlikely. It's hard to authenticate private purchase Luftwaffe jackets. There must have been a lot of them, because there weren't any issued ones until late in the war, according to Lewis Leathers:
"Purpose made flying jackets weren't issued to the Luftwaffe until late in the war, so pilots bought their own and, among other places, they could be purchased at La Samaritain department store in Paris during the occupation."
From https://www.lewisleathers.com/199.html#:~:text=The Battle Of Britain was,by German pilots in WW2. Anyone have a view on this?
This jacket looks nothing like the issued ones I've seen on the web, but it's not dissimilar to the BoB ones made by Lewis. But...if it was private purchase, why would it have a Luftwaffe stamp on the lining?
I asked the seller for the chest size, which he said is 96 cm, or 38 inches, which he said was 'L' in those days. Too small for me. Anyway, I think it's a fake. The seller's other items don't reassure me. But I can't resist asking for more details, so I've asked "Do you have any evidence about the pilot? Photos or letters or something? Do you think the marking is genuine? If the jacket is genuine, the pilot would have bought it himself." Waiting for a reply.