A man's coat of grey wool flecked with red and blue, gilt-brass buttons, Great Britain, 1780-1789

A man's coat of soft grey wool flecked with red and blue, lined with silk, with gilt-brass buttons.

The coat is a full length, cut to fit in the slim long-waisted fashion of the period. The skirts are not full and the sleeves fit tightly with quite deep cuffs turned back closely over the sleeve each one is stay stitched to the sleeve. The collar is turned down and is shaped to deep point at the back being a fashionable feature for the period; three inches at the front and four inches at the back. There is no lining except on the facings, skirts, cuffs and pocket flaps where it is of beige twilled silk. This has rotted away down the right front to reveal the method of attaching the buttons. each one has a metal loop fixed to the back, which has been inserted into the cloth so that a single strip of white kid leather can pass through each loop, this is then tacked on to the canvas interfacing with linen thread.

Twelve gilt-brass buttons embellish this man’s coat of the 1780s, made of a subtle grey-brown wool flecked with blue and red. Metal buttons were either cut from a sheet or cast in a mould. They were decorated using a variety of methods: hammering, chasing, engraving, stamping or moulding. In this instance, the casting process created the pattern with a central rosette surrounded by radiating lines and concentric circles.

The fabric of the coat features a woven stripe, with the specks of colour produced by extra warp threads in red and blue. The deep, turned-down collar with a point at the centre back, the long skirts and simple cuffs are characteristic of men’s fashion in the 1780s.

T.358-1980