Description
UNIQUE rare complete uniform of a Jewish serviceman in the TASC (Tel Aviv Security Company / "Shmira uBitachon" - שמירה וביטחון) auxiliary formation in Mandatory Palestine, 1942: the uniform consists of a blue and white visored hat (similar to the type worn by the Tel Aviv Municipal police force) + khaki drill tunic jacket and trousers of the Palestine Police-Gendermerie, marked "PPG" & bearing the arrow markings of the British War Office. The hat is missing the manufacturer's label (the plastic cover for the label has cracked open) and the TASC hat badge was sold separately, but its impression is still visible on the front. The tunic and pants are in excellent, preserved condition, with the J. Compton, Sons & Webb manufacturer's label intact inside the jacket, which retains all of its Palestine Police embossed silver buttons. This force is well known in collector circles although little is known about it: it seems to have belonged to the company known today as SBIsrael (Shmira uBitachon Israel - "Protection and Security Israel"), founded in 1938 and presently one of the largest Israeli security companies. The fact that it adopted a generic name as was the custom by many early Jewish companies in Palestine - and its equally generic translation into English, where the word "company" could have meant either a firm or a military unit - contributed to the long-lasting general lack of awareness what the unit's badge (bearing the English letters TASC and the Hebrew name "Shira uBitachon") actually meant, until now. The inner lining of the jacket appears to have the serviceman's name "Mister Aaron Persich" written in Hebrew, in pencil.
