Amanda Takes Off...

Five years ago I spent $12 on a Swedish military coat from Major Surplus and Survival.

I loved that coat.

I still love that coat, actually. But it's dying. There is a small hole in the gusset, the sleeves are getting frayed, a button keeps coming off, the stitches around the buttonholes is nearly shot...

It has these beautiful buttons, the three crowns of the Swedish army. In the lining it has the King's crown and what appears to be a date: 1946.

Ahh, that coat. I'm keeping it until the day I can afford to have it redone in new wool by a tailor for me.

Anyhow, I bought the coat five years ago and the store ran out of stock shortly thereafter.

I was looking at the website again and they had a similar coat.

I ordered the coat (now up to $13). When I got it, it had six pockets, not the four that the ad claimed it would have.

I called the company and they said that when they get surplus, they label it all in one general category, and the styles may vary slightly.

They then looked for the breast pocketless coat for me. They had none in medium or large, but several in extra-large. Unfortunately, the large is still fairly large for me, so I'm not getting an extra-large.

So this company didn't exactly give me what I wanted. But they took two phone calls and returned both phone calls quickly and cheerfully. They also didn't act like I was an idiot for wanting them to look through 700 coats.

So if you want some military surplus, go with them!

The new coat, while it has breast pockets, has some neat features that my old one didn't, including smaller buttons inside of each pocket to keep the pockets closed and several smaller liner pockets. The buttons have an anchor this time. There are red bits on the lapel. And in one pocket I found a slip of paper. It reads "1943 Vapenrock m/42."

New Coat

Silly Me