But you're right about jungle fatigues, I heard from older collectors in the 70s, 80s, and 90s and even after Vietnam ended. That jungle fatigue were dirt cheap to the point where surplus stores refused to buy any. I don't know if this is true but an old guy working at a surplus store. Claimed after Vietnam ended you could go to your nearest dumpster and see piles of jungle fatigues, m1 helmets and m56 gear. I believe him on the jungle fatigues but not sure if I believe the rest of that statement.

The big problem is the miners didn't mark anything or save anything. Their uniforms were their every day work clothes, their weaponry mostly heirlooms or hunting pieces. These days the only way to find a Coal Wars piece would be by provenance alone.

I've read (I believe The Major's Tailor had a post about this) that the 2nd coat in this photo is a later '30s (37-39 ish) coat with an all alpaca/wool lining, including the collar, instead of shearling, and was intended to be warmer while also decreasing weight.

Important to note that the varieties on coats claiming to be China Marine or Iceland, etc, could well be just variations on the civilian market. These coats were widely popular and I've seen a fair number of them in civilian photos, so if they aren't stenciled or don't have provenance they might just be civilian pieces.

I don’t recall there being a significant difference between them during firing. And Yes, all the items in the ‘man cave’ are genuine. I don’t have repro stuff. I’m a bit of a snob with that.

Sorry, but branches really did not have preferences in any manner. The three types you'll see most commonly are the full leather dress boots without laces, the half-lace dress boots with lacing only at the ankle, and then the full lace type. Another variation was ankle boots with gaiters which seems to have been most popular with lower ranking officers like LTs. I have seen the lace up style advertised as aviator's boots, as seen in this 1933 catalog. As far as I can tell it was entirely personal preference. Photos of aviators in WW1 and the interwar period tend to have a mix of both dress and lace-up boots, as do pictures of Army officers in CCC camps. The lace up boots did get more popular in the 1930s, either preceding or alongside the release of the M1931 Cavalry boot.

I have never had the chance to fire a ZB26, I would imagine it’s pretty similar operation to the Bren? Great display, are all the maniquins original?

I haven’t fired a ZB26 also.(see pic of it lurking by the Germans!)  And you are right - it’s a beautiful precision machined LMG. It even makes the Bren feel clunky.    

Id say movies and video games probably helped more then just time. Yeah you could argue the gwot vets are wanting to recreate the exact loadout they wore in Afghanistan for display. But I think for a camo that's ugly getting popular is more about the younger collectors watching warfare and wanting to recreate that look. I dont blame them putting together a warfare mannequin would look pretty cool. Or seeing the photos of sf dudes wearing acus and airsofters/collectors wanting to recreate that look. And as far as the original mw2 when it first came out in 2009 dudes where enlisting in the army just became they wanted to look like the rangers in mw2. Not joking either enlistment rates actually went up because of modern warfare at least the military claims anyway. But there are interviews of gwot vets saying they joined because the recruiter asked if they played mw2. But the people who were kids that played mw2 are now older and want to have impressions that look like the game. But of course I could be totally wrong and maybe its just time like you said. But im sure both played a part.

The Bren is by far the better of the two.  The Czechs were some of the best designers and manufacturers of the day.   I like my BAR, but not nearly the silky smooth action of the ZB26, nor the Bren.   Nice displays!!