Ever Fancied A German secret police Overcoat ?

[Old Fogey UK]

I remember the gas men who came to read the meter wearing those rubber coats back in the 1950's. They must have been really uncomfortable things to wear - you must have gotten so sweaty inside one !
From memory, it is a rubber coat that Trevor Howard wears in the Third Man.
lol lol lol

 

[nightandthecity]

its not rubber but a rubberized canvas. They are actually very comfortable (and very effective). I have several: a WW2 British Army officer macintosh, the 1952 pattern ditto, a similar 1930s civilian "riding mac", a British army Despatch Rider's coat, and a 1950s British Rail workers macintosh. All are shades of tan except the latter which is black.

If you track down the recent "favourite coats" thread, I posted some pics of a military example I sold on ebay.

Here's an extract from an email I wrote to one of my customers recently:

Rubberized cotton fabric was invented by Charles Macintosh of Glasgow and perfected by his rival and later partner Thomas Hancock of Manchester in the early 19th century. Glasgow and Manchester were always the main centres for production of “macintosh” coats.
The basic “macintosh” design, made of rubberized canvas with glued and taped seams and large gun pockets, seems to have taken shape during the 19th century, but the classic version is that of the 1914-60 era. To me the finest variant is the British Army officer 1952 pattern (the one you have)
The macintosh coat is is not a military design as such, but it was taken up by military officers and eventually adopted as a regulation military coat around the time of the 1st World War. It remained such up to (I think) the 1960s.
Nor is it necessarily a “riding coat” as such, but they became popular as riding coats and versions were produced with internal leg straps and a wide split at the back for this purpose. So when the name “Macintosh” became generic for any type of raincoat, people began started calling the true rubberized macintosh “the riding mac”.
The original Macintosh Company still exists and is now called Traditional Weatherwear Ltd. They make the Goretex riding coats for British Cavalry regiments, like the one you bought. I had a quick look at their website a while back but they don’t seem to make coats to the classic pattern any more. However, a company called Rainmac claim to make them still…they look good in the picture, but I haven’t see any of these in the flesh…. http://www.rainmac.com/shop/proddetail.php?prod=GentRaiDbLin&cat=8

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Rubberised canvas, eh? I stand corrected. Learn something new every day. I knew someone here would know.

bk

 

[Old Fogey UK]

Well, the coats the gas men used to wear were shiney black rubber or it might have been oilskin, I'm not sure. They were single breasted with a blanket material collar.
When I was a kid, I had one of those rubberised canvas raincoats. A red one. I remember it used to smell funny if it got warm.

 

[nightandthecity]

right....were they like this? This is a 1950s oilskin work coat with a blanket collar.

whilst I'm at it here's some pix of a rare full length brit leather coat, made by Wareings of Northampton. They made a lot of (mostly waist length) leather jackets in the mid 20th century, and were one of the main contractors that made Irvins during the war.

 

[PADDY]

Love that Wareings' Coat...

That is a beauty!! Don't forget they also made many of the leather flying helmets too for the RAF during WWII.

I sincerely hope you get plenty of good wear out of that DB coat, as it's just drop dead gorgeous! Just need the pre-war two seater sports car for it!

 

[Alan Eardley]

Oilskin coat

The Wareing's full-length coat is very rare indeed. I have never seen one like that by that company before!

The label on the Industrial Workwear oil cloth coat is absolutely charming. People who knew the Liverpool of old will identify the mock-Egyptian entrance to the old Mersey Tunnel that runs from the end of Byrom Street, where the store that sold it was located. That area is now a traffic interchange...

Alan

 

[Old Fogey UK]

The "Mersey Tunnel" coat is the gas man's coat as I remember it.
Seeing it takes me back to my childhood when the meter man used to arrive on his bicycle and I used to watch him as he peered at the meter under the stairs. Entertainment was simple but cheap in those days !
(My, hasn't this thread taken some unexpected turns ?)

 

[scotrace]

This seems to be the penultimate

Those who like this sort of thing will find that this is the sort of thing they like.
Leather Great Coat.
Didn't sell.

 

[Nathan Flowers]

.

I can't imagine why.

[/sarcasm]


It's a nice looking coat, but that design will forever conjure images of the SS.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

strange. Those things rarely come up in the US market. There certainly is a market for them. Bit expensive, though.

bk

 

[scotrace]

This one looks particularly sinister. One would expect to find it smudged with... well, the marks of the wearer's occupation.


$799 was a wee bit pricey to start.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

This one looks particularly sinister. One would expect to find it smudged with... well, the marks of the wearer's occupation.

Unfortunately, that would add to the appeal for some folks, eh?

bk

 

[DanielJones]

Funny, I never conjure the image of the SS with that coat, I always seem to conjure up the image of a WWII motorcycle courier. Rommell is a tad further down the list of images conjured as well. But hey, that's just me.[huh]
Actually with the collar up it looks like something the Strangers wore in 'Dark City'.

Cheers!

Dan

 

[Baron Kurtz]

I particularly like the cuff treatment on that jacket. A nice touch.

bk

 

[DronesDodz]

I have worked once as electrician a couple years back in Hamburg Germany at the Police HQ's of the Hamburg Police Forces. At one point we had to pull some new wires through the old quartermaster cellar where they stored police uniforms. To my astonishment we discovered many types of uniforms that we have never seen in out lives before. One of these rare items was a rack full of dark green overcoats for foul weather. After talking to the quartermaster we found out that some of these overcoates were actually used by the German Police after WW2 and maybe even by the secret police of the Nazies. Old badges have been removed obviously but since overcaotes are not cheap they have used them through the 1960's and 1970's. Since they never could make a decission what to do with the old coates they just kept them in the cellar. I have seen one of these overcoates on ebay once for about $80.00.

Cheers,
Christoph

 

[MrBern]

I have an acquaintance who picked up leather trenchcoats in eastern europe. He had them cut down to a more convenient length. About 3/4 , like a barncoat.
Internally there are straps for a pistol under the left armpit.

He was quite stunned when he found out collectors would give him about $600 for such a brown leather jkt.

 

[carebear]

Funny, I never conjure the image of the SS with that coat, I always seem to conjure up the image of a WWII motorcycle courier. Rommell is a tad further down the list of images conjured as well. But hey, that's just me.[huh]
Actually with the collar up it looks like something the Strangers wore in 'Dark City'.

Dan

Yeah, cause that's a better association.

I bought an Eddie Bauer brown leather car coat 5 or 6 years ago. It's aging beautifully, had the buttons tightened back up a year ago.

 

[TwoToneDeuce]

I think one can admire the aesthetics of the nazi uniforms as an example of the power of image

I vainly tried to express this same sentiment in another thread and was threatened with being booted off the board. In every movie that a govenment is portrayed as a totalitarian state, the german uniforms are used or modeled upon, because they are striking visually and represent total authority. Even our own Police uniforms are based on similar constructs.

http://www.longhillnj.org/police/lhpdo_uniform/lhpd_uniform.html
http://www.belmontpd.org/index2.htm
http://www.amherst.edu/~campuspolice/staff.html
http://www.ci.nacogdoches.tx.us/CityDepartments/PublicSafety/PoliceDepartment/PoliceDept.htm

-D

 

[TwoToneDeuce]

Funny, I never conjure the image of the SS with that coat, I always seem to conjure up the image of a WWII motorcycle courier. Rommell is a tad further down the list of images conjured as well. But hey, that's just me.[huh]
Actually with the collar up it looks like something the Strangers wore in 'Dark City'.

Cheers!

Dan

I doubt many here spend time in clubs, but this look is very popular with the Goth elements. They ironically enjoy using the "nazi chic" look to make a political statement about non-conformity.

-D