Fort Douglas Museum

Gus,

I will keep my fingers crossed until I see your photos.

I don't know why 1st AIF stuff is so hard to find. Plenty of WWII uniforms etc around. It is frustrating to see so much mint condition US material being offered but nothing from the AIF.

Did you know that the AIF of WWI was around 450,000 strong, of whom 336,000 deployed to Europe and the Middle East. 230,000 casualties. All out of a population of less than 5 million.

Mike
 
Gustaf said:
I question if this is the real deal.
Click to expand...

Hi Mike, Hi Gus:

The story does sound uneccessarily complicated and I too would be wary (having seen many things from this site that appear irregular). In fairness, however, there is good stuff as well and I have bought from them.

When I was twelve, my sister came home one Saturday and informed me she had been to an estate sale with a friend. She had seen there a trunk filled with AEF stuff: uniform, cap, helmet, canvas webbing, etc. By the time I arrived on the scene, everything was gone.

However, I learned all unsold lots were to auctioned the following Friday. I begged my parents to take me and, to make a long story short, I acquired my first WWI gas mask for $1.00. No one else bid. I took it to school for "show and tell," wore it on Halloween, and received an eyeful of charcoal "soot" when I blew into the valve of the cannister. It was the coolest thing a twelve year old ever owned. I still have it, somewhere. Should it ever surface, I will post a picture.

To this day, I still regret the treasures I didn't rescue from that estate sale.

Chas. :cry:
 
Gus:

The entire collection is incredibly impressive and well done. Aside from the uniforms and headgear, all of the little personal equipment and extra field gear shown seem to artfully complete your displays. Just from an outsider looking in, it would appear to me that the austrian impression would have been the hardest to complete. Also. are there other combatant nations that you would like to find and represent?

Regards

Dave
 
Thanks Dave,
The Austrian was not as hard for me to complete as one would thing, most of the impression was acquired when I was 17 and viviting friends in Austria, the gas mask fell into my lap, when I was putting the gear on a the field grey tuic and trousers (purchased from a Seller in Europe a few years ago) I used my German M1915 mask to finish the impression, I asked a friend if he had a spare M15 and he sold one to me far a very reasonable price, when I removed it from the cannister, I was thrilled to see that it was KuK proofed, the helmet came from the same friend. I picked up a ammo pouch from a seller at the Nat Gun Day show at SOS last year. The only over coat I have is unfortunatly an officer's model.
Last year if you had aske me what country I would like to add, I would have answered that there is very little chance to add as it is nearly impossible to find uniforms from the other countries, and I woud have added that Belgium, I did not expect to find one, but my wife bought me a nice Belgian uiform with most of the equipment from a Belgian collector, and father bought me the rifle to go with it. I can not wait for my next birthday. Any way, back to the question of what other nations to represent, Serbian, Ottoman, Portuguese would all be on the list, but all items from thewe countries make Belgian stuff look common. I would like to ad a US Marine uniform, and have a better representation from Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Britian, but the budget for collecting is going to be a bit thin for the foreseeable future.
Best wihses
Gus
 
Mike,
Here is several photos of the tunic in question.
tunic0028dl.jpg

This tunic is custom made and fully lined, it has been suggested that it is a senior NCO's tunic from late war or post war. There are no markings in it.

tunic0049wv.jpg

Note unusual shape of pocket, and that it is a bellows style pocket.
tunic0038hc.jpg

Detail of the sleeve cuff, there is indications of insignia on the collar and epauletts.
Gus
 
Gus,

There are similarities to the AIF tunic but also some significant differences that I could not explain:

- lower edges of the pockets are rounded (Square on AIF tunics)
- lacking the seam along the length of the buttonholes
- lacking the seam down the centre of each pocket
- decorative cuff loops (AIF tunics had plain, close fitting cuffs)

I don't know what this one could be.

Mike
 
Thanks Mike,
This has been a puzzelment for me. I purchased it in the late 60s as a British tunic of WWI, but the wastefull use of cloth on the pockets are not consistant with a British tunic. The General service buttons are not the original ones to this garment, the trousers that came with it are broad arrow marked.
Best wihses
Gus
 
Gustaf said:
I would like to ad a US Marine uniform
Click to expand...

Hi Gus:

Something like this, perhaps? It's my trophy acquisition from the Mohawk Arms auction. It came with Interallied Victory Medal, helmet, gas mask (canco), woolen gloves, two holsters (one Hoyt, one Sears, both dated 1917) Springfield '03 breech cover, and some other goodies (no trousers, sadly).

Take heart, though, at least you avoided that heinous commission.

Chas.:roll:

KICX0367.jpg


KICX0372.jpg
 
Hey Chas, because this is yours, I can tell you about thirty things wrong with it, but I would do you a favour and take it off your hands. I hate to see something like this in a friends collection when I do not have one, but then like you said, I did avoid the nasty buyers fee.
Gus
 
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