About This Jacket:

This is a great example of a Fried Ostermann M-422a. Ostermann operated from 1934-1952, in Milwaukee Wisconsin. The size is about a 42, though the white size tag is gone. Ostermann jackets are known to have relatively small shoulders, as does this one. The leather is excellent, being thick and soft, and the finish has held up well over time. The lining is in great condition, where Ostermann linings can be rather weak. The Talon zipper was replaced with a Coats & Clark zipper at some point. Ostermann had some very unique design features, which are these: underarm gusset has outward seam on the sleeve, pocket flaps have bevelled corners, belt has double stitching length-wise, collar points are large, inner pocket snap is bare metal, wind flap is separate from body leather, waistband is folded material (same as A-2), not single-ply as other WWII Navy jackets, and the USN stencil is black. The stencil on this jacket is visible but somewhat hard to see.

Collection:
Wilson O'Neal