Best Mounted Overcoat?

[FTrooper]

OK Gentleman, I have found myself needing a mounted overcoat and none of the "approved" vendors seem to offer it...where do you suggest???

Chris Fischer
Fort McKavett
&
F-Troop

[Tom Craig]

Re: Best Mounted Overcoat?

I don't have any good suggestions, and I'm not in the market for such coat, but I am curious to see if anyone has any recommendations. The only quality vendor who I ever recall advertising a mounted greatcoat was Chris Daley, and that source has gone by the boards...
Take care,
Tom Craig

[Huck]

Re: Best Mounted Overcoat?

You could see Charles Childs of County Cloth Inc, who is one of the best sources for material, and ask if he would make you a kit for one. I know he has kits available for Inf.

[CJDaley]

Re: Best Mounted Overcoat?

The only quality vendor who I ever recall advertising a mounted greatcoat was Chris Daley, and that source has gone by the boards...
Take care,
Tom Craig

Ah yes, very true Tom, that source has gone by the boards and you can't get one from me anymore. I cannot and will not take any orders for mounted overcoats ever again.

However, you maybe able to get a finished product or a kit from Charlie Childs from County Cloth www.crchilds.com He's made the best mounted garments under the sun for more than 2 decades and you won't be disappointed with the quality.

BTW: Only one person ever ordered a mounted overcoat from me in the 12 years I offered them as a finished garment. I sent it (along with a SA cavalry jacket and mounted trowsers) to a very nice fellow in California, but here are some images I snapped of his uniform before I shipped it to the West Coast.

[VaTrooper]

Re: Best Mounted Overcoat?

I had pictures of one by the guy in NJ but I dumped them a while back. He still offers them though.

[Andrew Kasmar]

Re: Best Mounted Overcoat?

Hi,

Mr. Daley, that is a spectacular looking Federal cavalry uniform!!!!!!!!!!

[RJSamp]

Re: Best Mounted Overcoat?

Scott Lyndon made one for me about 6 years ago..simply gorgeous. He even field cut a couple of slits in the front, grabbed any old flannel he had lying around, and rough stitched some hand warming pockets....perfect for those cold nights.

[FTrooper]

Re: Best Mounted Overcoat?

Man Chris D.,

Way to rub salt in the wound! LOL!

The namless one in NJ doesn't have them on his webpage that I saw but I can ask Childs about a kit even though its not on his page either...see, this isn't as easy as we'd think!

Chris Fischer
Fort McKavett
&
F-Troop

[VaTrooper]

Re: Best Mounted Overcoat?

Here's one out of NJ. Like a lot of Cav gear you can get overcoats made but you'll have to wait a while and pay big bucks.

[TheRealMrHoward]

I realize I'm about 15 years late on this post, but I have a question about getting a mounted greatcoat.

I'm an artist, and history buff. I want to get a greatcoat for reference, so it doesn't have to be exact, but I do strive for authenticity.

My question is, would this coat be close enough to legit for my purposes? Or is it farb-city?

https://www.hussarmilitaryjackets.com/en/civil-war-historical-grate-coat/262-mounted-greatcoat.html

Thanks for any help.

Dave Gustlin
davegustlin.com

[rmilstead]

Dave,
I am pretty sure you are not going to get a very positive response to your question here for a lot of reasons. First, however, I think you need to explain what you mean by a "greatcoat for reference." As you are probably aware Don Troiani amassed an extensive and superb collection of original Civil War uniform elements to provide reference examples to use in his artwork. Not that every artist can or even needs to do so but the point is that really accurate "stuff" leads to better renditions.

The coat ad you attach doesn't even state what the coat itself is made from but the price pretty well says it isn't the correct 22 oz. sky blue kersey used originally. In fact, I doubt it is even wool. The original coats required over four yards of 6/4 (54") fabric so if you do some research on the basic fabric cost to make it you will see what I mean. Why is this alone an issue? Well the way the coat "hangs" when worn is very important to how close it looks to the original and the fabric used has a lot to do with how it hangs. Believe me I have made one personally. A reasonable new reproduction made from correct fabric will be in the $400 range or more ( the material will cost the maker at least $140 to $160.)

Through internet search you can get a lot of detailed pictures of these coats including the 1866 QM photograph which shows it being worn in the period. Since how you intend to use this coat isn't clear in terms of what "reference" means, it is difficult to be more specific in responding but something even reasonably authentic isn't that cheap.

Just my $0.02

Dick Milstead
Company of Military Historians
Liberty Rifles

[TheRealMrHoward]

Dick,

I appreciate the response. I wasn't sure if my message in a bottle was going to get a ping.

When I say reference, I mean dressing up the part, having my daughter's take pictures of me and then using that to make the painting. Sometimes I have to have very exact images to get it to look real, but other times can fudge it a little without sacrificing too much in the way of fidelity to my subject.

I didn't know that Don Troiani had so much original source material, but it doesn't surprise me. It's my understanding that Eduard Detaille's uniform collection makes up a large part of what you see at the le musee d'armee.

I agree a 100% with you on the quality of the material being important and contributing to the overall effect. In fact, since posting, I have talked with my mom about helping me sew some kits from Wambaugh & White. I'm going to try out something like a shirt and maybe work my way up to the great coat!

Appreciate the patience with my unorthodox question.

Dave Gustlin