Cooper G-1

[Lawless]

Here’s what she looks like before I get the mouton upgraded. It’s such a big G-1 but it has that sad puny collar lol. When it’s finished it’s going to look really cool.

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[Deacon211]

That’s a very interesting G-1.

In addition to the black label, it appears that your jacket is sized S,M,L rather than by number. The collar also looks interestingly pointed, at least from the angle in the picture. Lastly, you seem to have hand warmer pockets which I know that the issue jackets didn’t have and were also absent from the earlier civil G-1s that they used to sell.

Looks like the changed quite a few things towards the end there.


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[Roninja]

Whether your jacket had USN stamped on the back of the collar or USN, USCG, USMC (rare) stamped on the windflap, the original jacket had the windflap. However, during WWII, it was blank (no stamp). The military didn't start stamping the windflap until after the war.

 

[Deacon211]

Whether your jacket had USN stamped on the back of the collar or USN, USCG, USMC (rare) stamped on the windflap, the original jacket had the windflap. However, during WWII, it was blank (no stamp). The military didn't start stamping the windflap until after the war.

Others will have to sanity check me in this, but I don’t believe that is entirely correct.

From what I’ve seen, WWII jackets typically had something stenciled on the collar. I assume that is what you mean by “stamped” in the context of the collar at least. It was always USN in the case of the m-422(a) though the color, font, and location varied by manufacturer.

Later, in the late ‘40s perhaps or early ‘50s (an expert should chime in here) the hole punched USN replaced the stencil. I’ve only seen a very few USCGs punched in the flap and no original USMCs. When I was issued my jacket, I was given one punched with USN even though I was a Marine. I believe this has always been common practice, though I’ve known a few guys to cleverly convert the N to an M and add a C.

I think the Coasties getting their own jackets was a relatively (relatively being relative to my old self) recent trend. I did see an older jacket with USCG punched through from the ‘90s I believe which was longer ago than I would have thought.

 

[galvestonokie]

Deacon et al:

i can't provide a definitive answer to the stencil/stamp question. my answer is that there is probably variation to any hard and fast practice. for example, some of the ANJ-3 supposed hybrid AAC/USN jackets had "US" stenciled on the rear of the collar rather than the standard "USN", and these were produced late in WWII. Even the design of these ANJ-3 jackets varied. Some had epaulettes, some had mouton collars--but these may have been test jackets??

Regarding the wind flap punches (USN/USCG), there was a murky transition period just before the Korean War (as I recall). If memory serves, this was about the period of the 55J14 (~1947) jackets. It seems like, somewhere in the past, i saw a USN jacket from this period with both a collar stencil and wind flap punch, buy maybe not. The 55J14 jackets are my favorite--both for quality and fit.

I currently have a very nice (and unusual in my experience) Orchard USCG G-1, 7823E(AS) in size 50R, year 1986, that may confirm what Deacon says about the Coasties sourcing their own jackets. This jacket for an E model is different from the USN E(AS) jackets i've seen from that period. My jacket is made from very nice goatskin, has a real mouton collar, side hand warmer pockets, the one-piece zipper pull with the brad at the bottom (which i don't like), and a very unusual serge-like lining. It's my current daily wearer as well as being very unique.

Here are some not so good pics of that jacket: