Fall 2026 Militaria and Aviation Auction
Lot 282:
Description
WWII US Army Air Forces Officer’s Double-Breasted Short Overcoat with Theater-Made Bullion CBI Shoulder Insignia and USAAF Winged Star Patch, Retailed by National Department Store, Salt Lake City, Utah Offered here is a striking WWII-era officer’s short overcoat (mackinaw-style), tailored in heavy khaki wool and retailed through the National Department Store at 246 So. State Street, Salt Lake City, Utah, as confirmed by the sewn interior label. What elevates this coat well beyond a standard privately-purchased officer’s overcoat is its pair of exceptional theater-made bullion insignia, hand-embroidered in wire and silk thread – a China-Burma-India (CBI) Theater shoulder sleeve patch on one shoulder and a USAAF winged star device on the other. No individual officer’s name or unit has been identified with the coat, and no separate published biography accompanies it; its story is told through the insignia themselves and the retailer’s label sewn into the lining. During the Second World War, commissioned officers received a uniform allowance enabling them to purchase tailored uniforms privately rather than relying exclusively on quartermaster issue, and it was common for stateside department stores and tailors – including western outfitters such as National Department Store – to supply or finish officer overcoats to individual measure. The CBI Theater patch borne on this coat, however, speaks directly to overseas service: such shoulder insignia were frequently hand-embroidered locally by artisans working near American bases in Kunming, Chungking, Karachi, and Calcutta, where officers commissioned custom bullion-wire versions of the standard felt insignia rather than wearing the mass-produced pattern. The CBI theater, encompassing the Hump airlift, the Ledo and Burma Roads, and Chennault’s Fourteenth Air Force operations, produced some of the most celebrated and sought-after bullion insignia of the entire war, each example prized today for its individual craftsmanship. The coat itself is a double-breasted wool short overcoat with wide notched lapels, a six-button front, and flapped hip pockets, the shell clean with only minor surface lint and no significant moth damage evident. The CBI shoulder sleeve insignia is fully hand-embroidered in silver bullion wire and colored silk thread on a wool ground, depicting the twelve-pointed white sun of the Chinese Nationalist emblem above a shield of red, white, and blue vertical stripes. The opposing shoulder carries a bullion-worked USAAF winged star device on a purple felt backing, the wings rendered in raised metallic wire thread with a red-centered star, bordered in gold-toned cording. A period gilt-toned officer’s insignia with clutch-back fitting remains mounted to one epaulet, though its exact device is not clearly discernible in the photographs. The interior retains its quilted rayon lining, intact and showing only expected creasing and light wear, along with the National Department Store label sewn at the neck. Condition is very good for a garment of this age: the wool shell shows minor surface lint but no major tears, while the CBI bullion patch exhibits some wire displacement and light fraying along the lower shield stripes, consistent with age and handling; the USAAF winged patch remains bright and well-preserved by comparison. A visually arresting and increasingly scarce example of theater-tailored bullion insignia on its original private-purchase overcoat, uniting CBI and Army Air Forces artistry in a single piece of Second World War history.
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