I found the company that made this coat so I can write them to try to get a more exact date. Hopefully the family has some ads for this coat too. I'm curious about the fur though since the pieces that it's made from are so long and skinny. It feels like the same fur as the one ID'd by Caryn as Mouton but that coat was made from large pieces. The fur is a bit wavy but all the same length. If it's the same animal, maybe it's the extras left over from the sheep, like legs and tails? If so, nice that nothing gets wasted but what a lot of work! Thanks for any help offered!
Hi again, This is mouton also and it dates to the 50s. Those aren't little pieces. The lines in this case are just part of the processing of the skin side of the coat.
That's so amazing how different each coat is from the other. Do you know why one was done with the seam-like lines and the other was one piece? Would it be for strength since one is so long compared to the other or the thickness of the hide? Now you've got me checking through the others to look at the undersides. Big learning curve. Thanks!
Found more examples of the overstitching(?) on the reverse of other jackets. This one has tears in the back so I peaked inside and voila. Hubby guessed the stitching may have to do with the draping and that makes sense too. The short jacket is one piece and keeps it's shape but the long jacket sort of flows.
