The price of rarity…
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….......more often than not higher quality equals lower quantity.
I just picked up an amazing item a few weeks ago, not knowing how "rare" or scarce it is. I ordered the IHA-03 C-3 sheerling vest from Rebirth & Craft (I live in Japan), and as I'm bragging an another forum about my epic pick-up, and how I hadn't seen ANY pics of someone wearing one aside from the website fit pics, @Giles drops in with a pic of him wearing one, and lets me know it's 1 of only 15 made. Score! I was already in love with the quality and look of it, but finding out that tidbit of info has driven up my adoration for it so much more.
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I drove to central PA to have a full length shearling bomber custom made to protect me from NYC winters. It was based on a description my grandfather gave of a few custom coats that he saw gunners wearing during WWII. He was a Navy Pilot and flew a PB4Y and earned a distinguished flying cross for service. He said that he wanted to see one of those coats before he died, so I had one made. It took me a long time to find someone that would do it and to get to them for measurements. When I finally had it made and showed it to him it brought a tear to his eye, and when he tried it on it was too heavy for him to even wear - it weighs about 15 lbs. When I've got it and my White's smoke jumpers on, I am like 25lbs heavier. I feel like Mad Max/Bane, but I now live somewhere super warm. I don't get to wear it but like twice a year, but I feel like it saved my life in NYC. When I wear it there I will get stopped on the street by people asking me where I got it. It always seems that Russian men are the only ones that ever ask to try it on, and I usually oblige.
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a charlton 8550c offshore you say i wish i had have known i threw two of them out the other day
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My grandfather flew out of Natal, Brazil. He said the local seamstresses would disassemble one jacket, maybe one that was falling apart / torn and stitch it to the bottom of another. So that's effectively what I had done. He said the coats he saw had interior pockets so He said this was a perfect example of what he saw during the war. I've never heard of another example. Never seen another example. These were not B7s because they were made in Brazil, had different detail elements and were from before 1945. By 45 my grandfather had already flown enough missions to get to go home, so he was seeing these in 43-44. Not during the 45 B7 contract. I assume now that he was seeing B6s converted or even bootleg shearlings made in Brazil spliced to other Brazilian bootleg shearling replicas. Whatever. What I had made was not an attempt at a government contract replica, rather an attempt to recreate a coat my grandfather described as "the greatest coat" he'd ever seen.
If anyone is interested in more or better pics let me know.
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Amazing story and awesome jacket, thanks.
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Thanks @Giles and @organisys!
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THE guitar i wanted from the time i was about 14. My lovely wife gifted it to me for our 10th anniversary. She means the world to me still. And the guitar as a gift from her makes it most special
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I've got a couple of one off pieces of art that are über special (lesser than the above but still).
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& yes. I'm a damascus whore. [emoji16]
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As good a reason as any to revive this thread…..
I just successfully ordered this beaut! Seems there were only one or 2 in each size
IHV-26, Indigo dyed horsehide leather vest
https://item.rakuten.co.jp/rebirth/10000985/
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Looks great. Please post some fit pics when it arrives.
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my copy of otis reddings you left the water running
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This is my Yamanote Line alarm clock, it plays all the jingles from the Yamanote line as it's alarms. For those who have never experienced this, the Yamanote Line is a loop train line which serves central Tokyo and has the happiest jingle tunes you have ever heard to announce arrivals, a different one for each station.
I became aware of this clock about a year after it came out and was gutted that I couldn't find one for sale anywhere.
My wife managed to buy me one for my birthday several years ago after getting a Taiwanese work colleague to contact her Aunt, who lives in Japan, and asking her to track me one down.
The trouble she went to, and the fact that they are so hard to get makes this super valuable to me…..must buy new batteries.
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