Description
GERMANY – TUNIC – SENIOR NAVY NCO – OBERSTABSBOOTSMANN – NAVY – WHITE
We recently acquired a small collection of items from the Imperial German Navy (Kaiserliche Marine). Each of these are in the much rarer summer weight WHITE. While the entire German Navy wore white during summer months as opposed to dark blue in the winter due to the weight of the fabric it is entirely possible it was worn by Navy personnel in China and Africa.
This tunic is made of cotton although it is a private purchase and not issued through a Navy depot.
- The original owner was an Oberstabsbootsmann which was a Warrant Officer.
- This was the highest level of NCO in the Kaiserliche Marine.
- This tunic has six gilt buttons down the center with the Kaiser crown and a fouled anchor.
- There are three buttons on the the front. One on the chest and two at the hip.
Now we get to the really curious part of this tunic.
- There are a total of four pairs of sewn in loops on the tunic.
- There is one pair of the breast pocket and three below. The shoulder boards are of the sewn in variety.
- The insignia show that he was most likely in the engineering department and worked below decks.
- Two smaller gilt buttons with the Kaiser crown and fouled anchor secure the shoulder boards to the tunic.
Overall the tunic is very clean. It does have a fault in the area of the right collar. There has been a repair in that area. Looking at it I am of the opinion that the it was done on board ship and not by a tailor. Other than that this is a lovely tunic and quite unusual being white as opposed to dark blue.
Medals are shown for display only – they are no included in the price or the tunic.
