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CIVIL WAR OFFICER’S UNIFORM VEST –
MASSACHUSETTS STATE BUTTONS – VERY NICE SPECIMEN:
This is a dark blue wool Officer’s Uniform Vest, as
allowed by the Uniform Regulations of 1861, “…officers
permitted to wear a buff, white, or blue vest, with the
small button of their corps, regiment, or department.”
Having survived in very nice condition,
this well tailored dark blue wool vest is fully lined in
natural colored cotton cloth. The front of the vest
features ˝” brass buttons bearing the seal of the State
of Massachusetts. All of the buttons are present and
all are intact with no depressions or other damage. The
back of the vest is made of black polished cotton cloth
and the adjustment belt is fully intact The front
pockets are all intact and there is a pocket on the left
side of the interior lining.
When originally collected, a lightweight
chamois leather pocket watch case was discovered in the
lower left hand exterior pocket, and that case remains
with the vest. The blue wool on the face of that pocket
shows the imprint of watch where it must have been
carried on a daily basis for some time.
This vest was obviously worn over a
period of time and shows some evidence of that wear.
All of the seams of the vest are intact, and overall the
wool, lining and back panel are in very good condition.
There is some light wear to the bottom edge of the vest;
some minor mothing to the lower front of the blue wool,
and two moth holes adjacent to the buttons that are
covered when the vest is buttoned closed. The balance
of the wool is in very good, solid condition. There is
light coloration to the lower front portion of the
lining where it chafed against the officer’s dark blue
wool uniform trousers, and some wear to the lining
material on the front left side.
As seen so often in period images of the
Civil War, these uniform vests are a crowning touch to
display with an officer’s uniform grouping, and in spite
of their apparent popularity during that time, are now a
relatively scarce piece of uniforming.
SOLD
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