HELP: trying to track down genealogy of a rocketeer jacket

[abntroop1]

so i scored this replica rocketeer jacket off of ebay and paid like 240 bucks shipped for it. It showed up today and it's an absolutely gorgeous jacket the only thing that I think is innacurate on it are the buttons, otherwise its heavy, fully lined. It's a real piece of clothing. Inside on the neck, there is fabric/silk disney tag stitched in that says "Disney promotional item". It was advertised on the ebay sale as a limited edition promotional item from just before the film was released. The only thing is, I can't find anything on-line relating to an official jacket being released, and frankly, at the quality of the reproduction, I think it most certainly would have been an extremely limited run. it looks to have been made off of the original patterns as the stitching is identical. Anyway, I'm trying to find out more about this jacket, and find out if anyone else owns one of these, how many were made, etc. Any help or info would greatly be appreciated. thanks

 

[dualedge]

Bob might know more about this but I've never once heard of anything 'official' being released in any capacity (i.e. promotional or commercial).

There have been quite a few replicas made in the past 5 years however, several of which were made either from original patterns or from direct studies of original Disney props. I honestly wouldn't put it past one of those replica makers to make some fake Disney labels and sew them in.

 

[abntroop1]

yeah, the thought had crossed my mind, the tag just looks "right" though ya know? I asked the seller about it and I got back "It is from Disney World it was from the opening of the Rocketeer used as a prop". maybe made for someone in costume at the time? abbyshot and the uk folks werent making their repros at the time. i dunno, it'd be cool to be able to track it back and find out one way or another. I'll post pics of the jacket and the tag later on today.

 

[dualedge]

yeah, the thought had crossed my mind, the tag just looks "right" though ya know? I asked the seller about it and I got back "It is from Disney World it was from the opening of the Rocketeer used as a prop". maybe made for someone in costume at the time? abbyshot and the uk folks werent making their repros at the time. i dunno, it'd be cool to be able to track it back and find out one way or another. I'll post pics of the jacket and the tag later on today.

Pictures would definitely help. It definitely has my curiousity up.

Disney did use costumes and props for the walk-around Rocketeer characters at the theme parks around the time they were promoting the movie. I'm sure it's within the realm of possibility it could have been made for that use but to say it definitely is would require some good provenance IMHO. I've never uncovered exact specifics of what was used for those walk-around characters. In all likelihood it was a combination of original items and duplicates used as needed.

No offense to the seller but without some kind of evidence backing it up, I wouldn't just take the sellers word for it. It doesn't mean they are lying, mind you, but it could just be they don't fully understand what they're talking about which is very often the case.

I've seen probably hundreds of helmets passed off on ebay as "park props" most of which are probably fake.

I've got a friend I can ask about the jacket but I'm pretty sure he's going to tell me he's never heard of an official jacket replica...

I'd definitely like to see pics. And if Bob gets online, he might know something about it as well. He's handled quite a few original jackets.

 

[abntroop1]

sorry man, finally got pics taken. getting the tag to come out even semi-clear was a bugger. frankly these pics don't do the jacket justice. it's very well made, and heavy. the only two differences I found between it and the abbeyshot jacket are the color of the liner theres is tan verus mine being black obviously, it's missing the two "X" pattern stitches on either kidney, the stitched holes on the hips for the stuntcables like abbyshot put on theirs, and the buttons aren't correct. Truth be told, i don't know what i have. either it's a nice replica jacket with a Bulls**t tag, or it's legit, in which case it's pretty rare and worth a chunk of $

 

[greenguy]

Whatever the source, it's a great looking jacket. Congrats on getting it!

 

[roboprop]

That jacket was an off-the-shelf item sold exclusively at Disney World back in the early 90's, hence the tag. It's an official licensed item though not as accurate as fans would like.

Very nice jacket IMO. :thumbsup

I bought a leather Indiana Jones jacket at Disneyland back in '96.

 

[dualedge]

That jacket was an off-the-shelf item sold exclusively at Disney World back in the early 90's, hence the tag. It's an official licensed item though not as accurate as fans would like.

Very nice jacket IMO. :thumbsup

I bought a leather Indiana Jones jacket at Disneyland back in '96.

That's definitely a good looking jacket, abn, sorry I missed it when you first posted pics. I've never seen one of these before.

roboprop, I hope it doesn't sound like I'm insinuating that you aren't right but I'd be very interested in how you know that? If that's the case, it's slipped by several very knowledgeable collectors that never knew even a park exclusive jacket like this was made and I love to know any details I can find out. Maybe you worked at the park or something?

 

[abbyshot.custom.clothiers]

Since we're referenced twice above, I'll officially state that we didn't make this. It is a very nice jacket and it looks very similar to a Rocketeer, however I can see loads of design differences. All in the details though so for the casual fan it's plenty accurate enough. Only perfectionists like us (or Wested, predicta, 90% of this forum, etc.) would pick up on things like button finish, stitching placement, etc. Good luck on tracking down the lineage on that jacket!

 

[roboprop]

That's definitely a good looking jacket, abn, sorry I missed it when you first posted pics. I've never seen one of these before.

roboprop, I hope it doesn't sound like I'm insinuating that you aren't right but I'd be very interested in how you know that? If that's the case, it's slipped by several very knowledgeable collectors that never knew even a park exclusive jacket like this was made and I love to know any details I can find out. Maybe you worked at the park or something?

I'm the prop master for Disneyland.