A nice wartime pair of Second Lieutenant’s shoulder straps for an officer serving on staff duty. This could be any post from something at the regimental level right up to duty on a general officer’s staff and, contrary to what we think of staff duty, this as often meant carrying orders, directing troops, and serving under fire without the satisfaction of being able to fire back, as bringing up supplies from the rear. This set follows the regulation pattern of a gold bullion border on a plain black field.

The borders are made of gold strands of both “dead” and “bright” bullion, and have their jaceron wire inner borders in place. They have obviously seen use on a coat. They are somewhat pinched in the middle from the shoulders being folded for decades while the coat was stored flat. There is some oxidation toward silver, but lots of gilt yet remaining. There is some wear at the corners exposing a bit of the underlying pad and the exterior jaceron wire borders are gone, as they frequently are from field worn straps because the wire so easily catches on something, but they still look great and show genuine field use rather than being straps that remained in a store’s inventory. The reverse shows the typically wartime open back. Whoever wore them was also very practical, using hooks and eyes to attach them to his coat rather than sewing them in place, which allowed for easier cleaning, and perhaps a quick change to higher rank after a hoped-for promotion.  [sr]

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