Germany, Heer. An Infantry Hauptmann’s Summer Field Tunic

  (Heer weißer Sommerfeldbluse für einen Hauptmann der Infanterie). A well-preserved Heer Infantry Hauptmann’s summer field tunic, constructed of a white cotton twill cloth. It features a turned-down collar reinforced on the reverse with machine-embroidered darts. The shoulders are flanked by boards constructed of white wool with a card stock core, topped by four bands of silver aluminum wire piping, pinned with two gilded pips, and bearing a reverse strap perforated with a buttonhole. Each measuring 35 mm (w) x 105 mm (l), the boards are secured in place with an integral loop at the outer edge and with a pebbled magnetic metal button on the inner edge. The cuffs of each sleeve are rolled up to a depth of 14 cm and secured in place with two pieces of stitching. Four pleated pockets are set into the breasts, all closing with scalloped flaps perforated with reinforced buttonholes, in turn meeting pebbled buttons. Pinned onto the tunic just above the top right pocket is an insignia consisting of a silvered zink Wehrmacht eagle clutching a wreathed mobile swastika, measuring 95 mm (w) x 35 mm (h). Pinned above the top left pocket is a ribbon bar measuring 50 mm in length, featuring a War Merit Cross II Class with Swords and an Eastern Front Medal. It closes with five pebbled buttons on the right flap meeting an equal number of reinforced buttonholes on the left flap. Unmarked, the tunic measures approximately 46 cm across the shoulders, with an arm length of 60 cm, and an overall body length of 62 cm. Issues consistent with age and field use are evident, and include minor material fatigue and soiling to the base material, repair of the eagle insignia’s catch which now sits upside-down, and loss of silver finish throughout the base metal of the eagle itself. This summer tunic remains in an overall near extremely fine condition.