Bavarian Overcoat

Gustaf

Gustaf

Well-known member
Staff member
I acquired a very nice Bavarian overcoat this week, from a seller in Italy. It is marked B.A.b.1916, and has the correct Bavarian rampant lion buttons. It is unissued, and has very little storage damage, the left sleeve is a bit discoloured and it has a couple of very small moth nips. It looks much better in person than it did in photos. I am not sure who I was bidding against, but I suspect that Flash may have been amoung them.
bav1eu3.jpg

I have not hasd a lot of time to take any photos, but hope to do so soon. I have to thank JPS for all the research he did on his Bavarian Overcoat last month as it made my job easy.
Best wihses
Gus
 
Hey Gus -- are those wrinkles original? If so this guy did not iron very well. Nice Bavarian Bekleidungsamt Mark-- no number to indicate :) corps? Could you please put in a picture of the Mark?
 
Hey James,
Here is a link to the auction, It takes forever for me to up load photos from my computer, I keep hoping that one of these days we will be connected with wire to the internet, the pony express connection is sure slow.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=011&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWN%3AIT&viewitem=&item=320133176836&rd=1&rd=1
The seller has very good photos and if you click on one of rthe photos it will take you to the hosting site. I had a heck of a time stealing a photo to post here, I thought I could get away with it as I own the coat now.
Gus
 
Gus,

Yes it was me you were bidding against. Congratulations, a very nice piece - that was the second minty Bavarian greatcoat that sold last week.

Mike
 
Hey Joe,
Yes, those are riginal WWI wrinkles, they differ from the post war wrinkles in that they are slightly more organized. here is a shot of the mark.
awhc034st3.jpg


James,
The hay crop is good and so is the price.
Gus
 
Hey Mike,
I am sure glad shipping to OZ backed you off. I thought it was unissued, but it has a name take in the collar, unfortunatly, the name in long lince faded.
Gus
 
Hey Gus,
You have a very nice coat. You seem to have the luck. I guess it is true. Never underestimate the power of Pooh
heh heh.
:D

Congrats,

Cliff
 
Hey Cliff, I am not so sure you could convince Maggie that I have the luck, she has a hard time understanding why I would pay so much for a coat that is nearly the same as the Swedish overcoat I wear for work that I paie $19.50 for. There have been numerous Bavarian overcoats up for sale, but this is the first I spotted with the Bavarian buttons. It is interesting that I was able to get a bavarian coat, a few days after I set up a display where I had one of my German mannequins IDed as Bavarian at the American West Heritage Center last week end, and a lady from Germany came up and told me that Bavaria was not a country, that it was part of Germany. I told her that the Bavarian uniform differed from the Prussian, and other States, and even today, Bavarians think of them selves as a separate country. She said, "Yes, they are like Texans, they think that only they have the best beer and the country". Her sister had married a Texas rancher (could be a fellow with two cows for all I know) so I told her of the Texas rancher that was bragging to an Idaho farmer, the Texan said, "It takes me two days to drive from one end of my ranch to the other" The Idaho farmer said, "Yeah, I had a pickup like that once, too"
Best wishes
Gus
 
Maggie is probably upset because at whatever price you paid they could have at least ironed the darn thing.
:eek: :eek: :eek:
 
Actually, Maggie knows how much it stinks to iron something that has been in moth balls, so she does not begrude them the wrinkles, besides, they are original WWI wrinkles, that increased the price of the coat by about 30%
gUS
 
Hi Gus:

Though you may want to leave it "as is," I find that a once over with a commercial steamer works wonders on these garments.

Congratulations on a nice find.

Chas.
 
Nice score Gus. This may sound crude, but I have hung badly wrinkled Waffenrocks in the shower on a hanger, and put the water of HOT and steamed them for a few minutes. Then hang to dry and make sure they are absolutely dry before they make it to my hobby rooms. Works every time. Wrinkles be gone.
 
Gents,

This raises a good point that may even warratn a sticky thread on its own. How do you clean a uniform that hasn't been cleaned for the past 90 years? I am talking particularly about musty uniforms or uniforms that were perhaps dirty/sweat-soaked when they were stored and still contain bacteria/dirt etc that may cause them to deteriorate, or may contain insects and bugs.

Do you dry-clean a 90 year old uniform or is there a better way recommended by conservators?

Mike
 
Hey Chas,
Thanks for the suggestion, I will probably put it on a maniquin and allow the fabric to relax, I am very cautious about doing any thng that can not be un done. But if need be, I will probably go with your suggestion.

Hey Tony,
I am afraid that I am not brave enough to do that with this one, I suspect that the wrinkles will come out with out too much effort.

And Flash,
I would strongly recomend not having any garment dry cleaned unless it is a salvage tactic, I have had modern wool shirts ruined by the dry cleaning process, you are right, we do need a sticky on how to clean these garments, I believe that it was Dragon that showed photos of a Waffenrock in a bath tub, and the sludge that was left behind after it was cleaned, that one desperately needed washing, but this coat's only issues are the wrinkles that Joe was so quick to point out.

Best wihses
Gus
 
For you do it yourselfers here is a conservation tip straight from the conservatory that does the tapestries for the Cathedral of St. John the Divine here in NYC.

To ensure you get any moth eggs out of a fabric you need a commercial grade freezer or can attempt it with a home one if it's cold enough. I stress it must be very cold. Forget your refrigerator freezer, as it won't do the job.

Wrap your garment completely in plastic and drop into your freezer for 1 week. Remove said garment and bring it into a very warm room and let it warm up. Vacum anything you see on it and rewrap. Drop back into the freezer. Leave for another week and repeat the process. Repeat the cycle again for a minimum total of 3 cycles. You can do more cycles if you feel like it as there are no limits to how much you can do this.

Carefully vacum the entire garment. If you are not going to display the article put it back in the freezer.

The reasoning behind this process is that the artificial cycle you are creating mimicks nature and forces any Moth eggs to hatch. Moth eggs can lay dormant for many many years. By forcing the eggs to hatch and then refreezing them you kill the larvae.

For added measure if you piece was heavily mothed, wrap the piece in a cotton towel or heavy t-shirt and drop the piece after you have done the above freezing, into a sealable plastic container. Add Moth balls and let it set for a week. Remember that Moth Balls only kill active moths and larvae but does nothing to eggs.


John
 
Great tip John, I am going to copy and past it to the unifor forum as a sticky.
Gus
 
Gus
I have access to an industrial Frezzer and will be happy to make sure all eggs are killed .
Nice piece.
Zippey.
I won't need a week Nitrogen will have it in a day.
:D
 
Hey MArk, I had thought of nitrogen, I know where there are 300 gallon vats full of the stuff, but I would be afraid of the fibers breaking from the cold. It is odd to watch someone pulling straws out of the nitrogen and wiping the excess liquid off with his bare hands.
GUs
 
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