US ARMY SERVICE TROUSERS, MOUNTED, ca. 1908 - IN
EXCELLENT LIKE NEW CONDITION – w/ 1908 DATED MAKER & QMC
DEPOT TAG – VERY RARE MEXICAN PUNITIVE EXPEDITION
UNIFORM ITEM: One of the rarer pieces of
early Twentieth Century US Army uniforming, and commonly
associated with the 1916 Mexican Punitive Expedition,
this pair of ca. 1908 Mounted Service Trousers with the
fully reinforced seat have survived the years in like
new condition.
While included in William Machado’s description of the
Pattern 1911 Service Uniform in his informative
Uniforms and Equipment of the Last Campaign 1916,
these Service Trousers with the reinforced seat, or
crotch, as well as the inside surface of the legs, were
introduced earlier in the 1902 Uniform Regulations.
At some point the army decided the reinforced seat was
no longer necessary and it was deleted from the
specifications, leaving only the reinforcing extra layer
of material on the inside of the legs. It is
generally believed that the reinforced seat was
eliminated in the 1911-1914 time frame, before the 1916
Mexican Expedition. Since the bulk of the
remaining stocks of the reinforced seat trousers that
were in inventory were exhausted during expedition,
surviving examples of these early pattern mounted
trousers are regarded as exceptionally rare - in point
of fact, examples of reinforced mounted trousers from
the Civil War and Indian War periods are far more common
in collections today.
Providing significant and important evidence as to when
these mounted trousers were produced, the complete
combination maker and Quartermaster Depot tag is sewn to
the underside of the right front pocket liner. The
original label is full form, completely legible, and
bears the contract date of September of 1908.
Manufactured of the same wool as the service coat, this
pair of trousers features brown hard rubber buttons on
the fly and same buttons on the inside surface of the
waist band for suspenders.
There are two front pockets
and a watch pocket over the right hand front pocket, no
rear pockets, and a two piece size adjustment belt
across the back of the trousers.
This pair of trousers is literally in like new
condition, and were it not for the soldier’s name, “Gus
Hoffman” written in ink on the inside of the waist band
and on one of the pocket liners, they would appear to be
unissued.
The material is in excellent
condition with no sign of discoloration, wear, or
damage, and most importantly, there is no moth damage,
as pristine as the day it left the manufacturer.
The eyelets on the leg gussets are all present and have
their original brown lacquer finish intact, and lacing
strings are full length and complete with the brass
tips.
Considering the manufacture of these trousers was
discontinued before the Punitive Expedition, the
survival rate of these early mounted trousers in
collections today is fairly low.
This pair is an outstanding
specimen, and in light of how rare any surviving
examples of this pattern are in today’s market, they are
truly a special offering that would never need to be,
and I doubt could be, upgraded.
(0430)
$1150
NOTE:
Photographing wool material presents some interesting
challenges in lighting and contrast. It results in a
trade off between trying to maintain the accurate and
consistent coloring between photographs and providing
sufficient detail of specific features. Any variations
in the coloring you see in the photographs below is due
to the limitations of the photography and is not due to
fading, bleached areas, or discoloration of the
material.
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