A little help on a Hercules Sears Roebuck jacket please...

I found this jacket in my travels a while back. It's made of wool and has a Talon metal zipper down the front. The label says:

The label says:

Hercules Reg U.S. Pat. Off.

Sears, Robebuck and Co.

From what I've found on the Sears archives the Hercules brand ran from 1908 to 1965. Menswear is not my forte so my guesstimate is late 40s early to mid 50s. I'd appreciate any assistance you're willing to provide.

 

No help at all, Marge. Just wanted to say Hey!!! How the heck are you?

 

Hey Mary,

The wrist area has no elastic at all. There are no actual cuffs. It is just folded over once and hemmed.



I'm providing a picture for the seaming on the sleeve of the jacket. It looks like a flat felled seam to me.



The collar measures 4 inches from the edge of the tip across to where the zipper is.

 

I'm good. Also the colors are actually a pine green and brown plaid. I'll have to work on my lighting. These were just quick and dirty pictures.

 

I can't help on dating, other than to say it looks 40s to early 50s to me... But it is a GREAT jacket! Wonderful piece!

 

Thanks everyone. I really appreciate it. Unfortunately I'm really shy of listing anything on eBay anymore.

My last experience a month and a half ago was with a return on a St. John suit that was in excellent condition and freshly dry cleaned which came back stenching from the buyer's perfume and jammed into a box wrapped in tissue paper with glitter embedded in it.

I bit my tongue and refunded her but I swore I would not sell on eBay again so I really am wary of listing it on eBay.

Thanks again!

 

I don't want this to come off as mean in any way so I hesitated even saying - but the typical buyer for a jacket like this is a different type of buyer than a St. Johns buyer. The typical St Johns buyer doesn't want attention pointed to the item being vintage, etc., most of the time even though they are aware its not current. There are a set group of designs that have been made and they know them all and the color absolutely has to match their other pieces (no fading, etc) and it has to look new. They can be an upscale buyer in some ways and 99 out of 100 times are buying to wear and swear by St John. For some reason I have heard before of stories from other sellers where things were worn once and returned like it was Saks or something and not a private seller. As far as the vintage Sears buyer - they usually know exactly what they are looking at, know its more scarce and are happy to have it. But there is enough variation in items where they aren't going to always find the exact same thing twice Ditto the really old Levis and older work clothes. I have held my breath waiting to see what a buyer thought after they pay good money for something that isn't perfect and they are delighted where you may hear more about a catch in a St Johns

Now I am not saying to not sell St Johns because there is a market for it that can be competitively bid, etc. Unfortunately you just dealt with one bad apple, or at least was unrealistic in the type of service they expected. I wouldn't let that one person stop you from selling because you can't please everyone no matter how backwards you bend.

I would buy/bid on this jacket in an absolute heartbeat if it fit my favorite guy as he has more modern versions of this. I probably won't be able to afford it at this time, but I'd be interested in watching the auction or checking out the listing once its up and you decide where its going.

I would say if i was the person putting it up for sale - i'd try it more towards august where you have folks thinking about winter and fall more - but if its on your website it can go any time. I find that vintage Sears stuff tends to stay in the USA as far as buyers, with the occasional Japan or Norway/sweden - not as popular with australian buyers but that is just me - someone may sell all of their sears stuff to australians so its hard to say.

 

No offense taken in any way, shape or form. I really did my homework on that St. John suit and vintage appeared nowhere in the listing at all as I know St. John customers don't want to hear that word uttered. I held that suit for months getting my nerve up to list it and then really took a beating. It'll get listed again but it won't be on eBay.

Now last night on the eBay VCA board (I had posted about the jacket on there as well) someone posted a link with work clothing labels sans what the work clothing item was. It showed that the label in my jacket is from the 1960s. However, given the information provided here and also on the VCA board I'm really uncomfortable with that.

When I'm dating things I don't feel you can just go by the label. It has to be by style and the finer points that have been mentioned here.

For anyone that might be interested, here's the link:

http://www.redcloud.co.jp/detail/work_tag.htm

 

Here you go! An ad in a 1945 newspaper -

 

Thank you so much!! Would you mind if I used that ad when I list the jacket?

I have to say that I've been given dates all over the place over on the VCA board and also here but this nails it for me. I hate the thought of misdating something so I really appreciate everyone helping me out. Thanks again!

 

Yes I've been going back and forth from here to the VCA board.

I figure to list this in the categories that encompass 1945 to the 1960s. I can't guarantee a specific year but I think that time spread should be close enough for most buyers and I am still leaning 1950s.

I really appreciate all the information that was made available. Menswear is just not my thing but I've never let that stop me when I find something interesting.

 

Like MS says, the ad Amanda shows is similiar but not a match.
The jacket in the ad has button front closure, yours has a zip.

This style didn't really change much over the years...but I do not think it is 40's at all....I would date it late 50's-early 60's.

 

SWEET!!! Way to go Amanda!!

VERY similar!