This is where I'm at as well, Holt. I believe _ has spoken with Neil Cooper and that Neil made 2 jackets out of calfskin. No problem there.Indiana Holt wrote:yes, its lamb like but it is not lamb. you can tell the difference between the two.
at least that is what I have been told by a guy who works with leather for his daily bread.
I personally believe that the jacket Tony got was lambskin. the man obviously knew his leather. but of course there can have been made a mistake and confused it with lamb. its possible. he was only human. but IMO I doubt it.
again, this is just my opinion. take it for what it is worth.
But, like many here, I spoke with Tony several times and he was adamant that the Raiders jacket he examined was shrunken lamb. I heard this several times from the man himself. It wasn't "it might be", "I'm pretty sure it was", he stated emphatically that it was shrunken lamb.
So three possibilities here. 1.) Tony lied about the hide. 2.) He was mistaken about what he had. 3.) The jacket he received was made of shrunken lamb.
Here's my take: 1.) There was no reason to lie about the hide. Tony could have saved a lot of grief by saying it was something else. Instead, he said what he thought it was and stuck to it. Also, I have never known of Tony being dishonest in any business dealings (I can say this for myself and others I've spoken to). I don't know of anyone who's ever produced anything that showed Tony in anything but an honest light.
2.) Tony knew his leather. He had worked with this type of leather before. If I'm not mistaken, the man who he had bought this type of hide from before, ended up in a building behind Tony's shop and Tony discussed the hide with him. As has been said, Tony went over the jacket with a "microscope". He counted the teeth on the zipper (his words to me). Is someone who's going to go into minutia like that going to take a chance on missing what the jacket's made of? Could he be mistaken about the hide? Sure, anything is possible. But I don't think it's very likely at all.
3). I believe that the jacket Tony received was, in fact, shrunken lamb.
So, to reconcile the fact that I believe _ and what Cooper has told him and what Tony told me personally, I can only come to the conclusion that the jacket Tony received wasn't a Cooper. It was probably one of the Leather Concessionaires jackets that Peter made for the production.
And Hollowpond, I'm with you that it is a big revelation that Cooper has given us (thanks for getting it for us, _!). Now, we have to assimilate it into what we already know.