| John the OFM | 20 Apr 2014 10:05 a.m. PST |
link The 59th Foot had "purple" facings, which I assume is treateed as a shade of red. In fact, Lefferts groups this regiment with the red facing regiments.
According to the 1768 warrant, the drummer's coat should be white, faced and lined red, or in this case purple.
Here is the shade of purple:
fifedrum.org/crfd/BD_1.htm
You must click on 59th regt under AWI. I am happy either way. I "need" to paint them for the Boston garrison of 1775. |
| daubere | 20 Apr 2014 10:18 a.m. PST |
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| epturner | 20 Apr 2014 10:32 a.m. PST |
I'd say it's more like crimson, than purple. Eric |
| Jeigheff | 20 Apr 2014 12:11 p.m. PST |
I'm not an expert on eighteenth century purple. But I will say that Troiani's purple/crimson is a very attractive color, at least to my eyes. |
jurgenation  | 20 Apr 2014 1:22 p.m. PST |
Troiani is a very thorough researcher. |
| John the OFM | 20 Apr 2014 4:55 p.m. PST |
I am asking if the coat shouldn't be white. Troiani's print contradicts the Warrant of 1768. |
| Supercilius Maximus | 21 Apr 2014 2:30 a.m. PST |
John, I've not come across any case of a "purple" regiment (there was one other, the 56th) having white-coated drummers/band; nor have I come across any reference to facing-coloured coats either. Franklin is utterly useless on this, since he declined to include drummers' coats in the colour plates (whilst including other examples that essentially duplicate each other). He also fudges the issue of the 59th's NCO sashes – which might have given a clue as "red" regiments had no centtral stripe – by only giving an example from the post-1775 change to white facings, and I suspect this is deliberate. He also gives no examples from the 1750s uniforms, omitting both drummmers' coats and NCO sashes. There were initially two regiments with "pompadour" facings – the 56th had "pompadour-red", the 59th "rose-pompadour". The former changed to purple in 1764, the latter to white in 1776. My guess (educated or otherwise) would be that the selection of white was probably an economy measure, and it is perfectly possible that this "economy" included the fact that the change left the drummers in white coats. Troiani doesn't generally research the AWI plates himself, it's usually Jim Kochan, who is an AWI expert and usually very (very) reliable. I note that the Fife & Drum website shows the regimental colours as a red cross on a white field, as per "red" regiments. However, the owner does admit that some of his depictions are speculative in the absence of firm data. And of course the change to white facings would have generated a similar regimental colour anyway. I guess "your figures, your rules" applies here. |
| John the OFM | 21 Apr 2014 5:36 a.m. PST |
"As the Colonel (me) shall decide."
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| Supercilius Maximus | 21 Apr 2014 7:39 a.m. PST |
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| Redcoat 55 | 21 Apr 2014 8:36 a.m. PST |
This is old, and possibly faded and/or degraded a bit, but here is the lace and facing sample from the Royal Collection: link |
| John the OFM | 21 Apr 2014 9:09 a.m. PST |
Cool. That's a nice shade. |
| spontoon | 21 Apr 2014 3:23 p.m. PST |
Purple IS a more crimson/red shade than most folk think. What most folk call puirple, is violet! |
| Major Bloodnok | 21 May 2014 2:45 a.m. PST |
According to the '68 Warrant the sash worn by Serg'ts of reg'ts. with red facings was to have a white centre stripe. |
| Supercilius Maximus | 21 May 2014 3:10 a.m. PST |
Correct; unfortunately, it doesn't help much as Franklin shows the sergeant's sash for 1776 onwards (which would have been white anyway). |
paints brigs for the British fleet.
