I'm pleased to announce that I just scored a WWII-era pea coat off of Ebay for $40. 10 button front and tan corduroy pocket liners. It was so cheap that I was concerned that the deal was too good to be true. Anyway, the coat came and it's in great shape. I can tell that it's been worn because of the wear around some of the edges and seems, but I see nothing to suggest that the coat won't last another 65 years. The coat is a tad tighter in the chest than I would like, which means arm movement's a bit limited, and I don't know if I'll be able to layer thick sweaters underneath, although that's not something I expect I'll be doing often. And, again, for the price? Whatever. I was surprised by the size of the tag, which is smaller than I had imagined. It's 1 1/8" x 2 1/2". See image below. The buttons are larger than I had expected, weighing in at about 1 1/4". But the real surprise is the wool, which is not what I had imagined. I knew it would be heavy, so I had imagined that it would be thick. On the contrary, while the wool is thick, it's not as thick as I had expected. Instead, the wool is crazy dense, more dense than any wool I've dealt with up to this point. Dense and stiff. Almost hard. I rode on my bike with it this morning and noted with approval that the fabric really is about as wind-proof as one can hope for from a wool garment. I suspect that it would take a heavy rain for me to feel welt.
