Spiewak (?) A2 with a different type of Conmar zipper

[2BM2K]

Nothing unusual in this photo expect for the zipper;

Zoom in on the zipper and an indentation can be seen at the top, which is typical of Conmar zippers. Expect that this type of Conmar is not listed in the Eastman manual nor can I recall seeing any other images of this style of zipper.

The A2 has pointy collars, a goaty looking leather, ring snaps, rounded pocket corners and so I am thinking that it is a Spiewak.

 

[Silver Surfer]

yeah an odd duck. those type of conmars were used on flight bags and the like and were not designed to be auto closing -[no pin on the side of the puller] possible puller replacement? the tape looks original. spiewaks used crown zippers, as per Garys book. however, cable made a goatee that used conmars,, and had small ring snaps. a couple of other makers used conmars as well.i have a united sheep lined a-2 that has a conmar zipper that is original to the jacket. according to Garys book, only crown and talon zippers were used in the one united sheep lined contract. a-2 oddities are not all that uncommon, the more ya see of the originals.

 

[Skyhawk]

It almost looks like it has Crown type chevron teeth on the zipper chain. IDK if a Conmar puller would operate on those teeth though I have never tried it.

 

[mulceber]

FWIW, the zipper data listed in Eastman for the year 1942 is not reliable. The A-2 guide is great, but Gary (understandably) could only list the zipper variations he had seen on originals. It's pretty clear though that once the US was in the war, the government was buying up every zipper they could get their hands on, and just shipping out however many the manufacturer needed to fulfill the contract. As a result, pretty much any zipper that was current in 1942 can be seen on just about any jacket that was made at that time. Now there ARE patterns - Perrys and Cables frequently have conmars, Star and Rough Wear got a lot of Talons, but there aren't any rules.

What's interesting with this photo is I think that Conmar type didn't come along until 1944, long after the jacket was made. And as Jay said, it appears to have chevron teeth. I wonder if the jacket originally had a crown zipper (common on Spiewaks) and the slider broke and the pilot managed to scrounge a conmar slider that he found worked.

 

[jack31916]

It almost looks like it has Crown type chevron teeth on the zipper chain. IDK if a Conmar puller would operate on those teeth though I have never tried it.

A Crown puller works fine on "regular"zipper teeth so... it could work just fine.

 

[Skyhawk]

FWIW, the zipper data listed in Eastman for the year 1942 is not reliable. The A-2 guide is great, but Gary (understandably) could only list the zipper variations he had seen on originals. It's pretty clear though that once the US was in the war, the government was buying up every zipper they could get their hands on, and just shipping them out however many the manufacturer needed to fulfill the contract. As a result, pretty much any zipper that was current in 1942 can be seen on just about any jacket that was made at that time. Now there ARE patterns - Perrys and Cables frequently have conmars, Star and Rough Wear got a lot of Talons, but there aren't any rules.

What's interesting with this photo is I think that contract didn't come along until 1944, long after the jacket was made. And as Jay said, it appears to have chevron teeth. I wonder if the jacket originally had a crown zipper (common on Spiewaks) and the slider broke and the pilot managed to scrounge a conmar slider that he found worked.

That makes sense. However, the top stop is correct so that would have had to been replaced as well if the puller was changed out. I am not sure if a talon top stop would be available to them if they were not in the US at the time. Another possibility is that it could be a Franken-zipper from the manufacturer.

 

[Chandler]

Would a top stop matter if you aren't zipping all the way up? I rarely see A-2s fully zipped.

 

[Skyhawk]

Would a top stop matter if you aren't zipping all the way up? I rarely see A-2s fully zipped.

It would not matter but there's no way to get a puller on or off a tape with the right side stop in place. So the stop was installed after that Conmar pull was put on the tape