Yard Sales, Flea Markets and Antique Shops 2023

[browningautorifle]

Black match is exceedingly easy to make

I would think almost as easy as rolling a cigarette?

[Aragorn243]

The rust on the metal parts is coming off mostly with steel wool and a brass brush. The barrel requires some solid work scraping it off. So far no major pitting found but it did a job on the finish.

[Aragorn243]

Not much to be found this weekend. Picked up a Vietnam era 1966 cap (hot weather) never issued and a 1954 US MIRRO canteen with a 1953 US BE CO cup and a cover that I think it 1963. The DSA numbers never seem to fit the description fully. This one is early 60's for sure as it's DSA 1-1036-63-E. Guide says the 1036 is where the date should be but that's impossible so it's probably May of 1963.

These caps must have been issued for a long time as it was the first cap issued to me in ROTC in 1982. I think the actual military was in the woodland camo by then but we got the leftovers.

[Aragorn243]

I was out of town all week but stopped at some antique places I like to hit on the way home. Picked up three mess kits I didn't have, a 1942 Leyse, a 1943 Wire and Metal MFG which is unusual in that I believe it is tinned or galvanized steel rather than stainless or aluminum. Looks a little rough because the coating didn't last. The third is a 1944 E.A. Co. I also picked up a set of WWII utensils with only the knife dated 1944. I got two elastic helmet bands, one without cats' eyes and one with two cats' eyes. Both marked but not dated. Both also have the soldiers name on them. The last military item is a 37mm AP shell from 1943 which is different than the others I have. It has a pointed aluminum cap on it, peened in place. It needs some serious cleaning. Non-surplus but still military I made out great with some very unusual books. Armored Trains, An Illustrated Encyclopedia 1825-2016, Naval Institute Press, a three-volume set of The German U-boat Base at Lorient, France, Shiffler, The Devil's Garden, Stackpole, which is about the fortifications at Normandy with before and after photos and the last book is Last Days of the Luftwaffe, Frontline, which has a lot of photographs I've never seen on the very late and experimental aircraft of Germany. I've seen photos and drawings of these planes but not these photos. And finally, three diecast toys, a fuel truck and an ambulance I didn't have, I believe these two are Midge toys which have open bottoms and the last I'm not sure what it is, a jeep type vehicle. This one I already had but it was cheap. I really should stop buying the books, but these are really nice, it's one of my life's biggest weaknesses.

[browningautorifle]

The last military item is a 37mm AP shell from 1943 which is different than the others I have. It has a pointed aluminum cap on it, peened in place.

Like this one?

[Aragorn243]

That's the one. I can't get the top off though, it's peened in place.

[Aragorn243]

So a friend hooked me up with another local auction that does them online. I cleaned up the military stuff last night. Not yet sure what it is that I have but I didn't pay much for it. One coat has the 3rd Marine Amphibious Division patch on it. A WWII Techical Sergeant shirt from 2nd Army which was a training army stateside. What appears to be a complete WWI or post WWI uniform with collar disks. And a bunch of shirts from The Army Anti-Aircraft command. I believe they are from 1950-57 time frame, red with yellow trim AA and a missile in the middle. Some shirts that look early Vietnam era. I think I got two coats, six shirts, six pairs of pants, six hats, a bag of buttons and collar disks, a duffle bag and a signal corp bag.

[Aragorn243]

This batch of uniforms I’m going to need help with. The hats are mostly tagged and range from 1947 to 1951 so I’m assuming most of the uniforms are Korean as these items are all marked with the same laundry number. The 2nd Army shirt is 1944, no date I can find on the WWI type uniform and the buttons all belong to that, one collar disk is WWI, the other is later and shiny. So I have some sewing to do. There is a belt which I think has the guys name on it but difficult to read. Unusual buttons on two pairs of the pants so might be able to date them by those.

[Aragorn243]

The unusual buttons are 13 star buttons. Silver with 13 stars for the original colonies. Seems conflicting information on whether they are US Army or USMC or both. Time period seems to be WWII but I'm thinking these are also Korean era. I'll probably start a new thread for these when I get a chance to start taking pictures and posting them. Still can't figure out the time frame on the Army Air defense patches either but 1950-57 seems to be where most people are saying they belong.

[Aragorn243]

This week's haul is small and partially unknown. The first item is some sort of sleeping bag. The yard sale seller said it belonged to her father, that he was big into buying surplus from Eastern bloc nations and suspected this might be Romanian. I can't find anything like it. It has buttons instead of zippers and is more like a blanket with a hood than a sleeping bag. I didn't open it up figuring I'd find markings after getting it home but there are none. I only paid $2 and it's a nice warm blanket for camping if nothing else. I couldn't figure out how the buttons even worked until laying it out for the photos. I see now that they are double layered on the side or possibly the middle based on the hood location. There is a draw string at the hood area, and it is slightly off center. Now the bottom buttons up I still haven't figured out. It comes in a separate carry "bag" that has a handle on it. I would not want to have to get out of this in a hurry if I had to. Assuming the buttons probably go on the inside, otherwise you'd never get out of it.











The second item I picked up this morning at the antique flea market for $10. It is a British Brodie helmet made by BMG, Briggs Motor Bodies sometime between 1940-45. The last numeral of the year is either obscured, missing or I don't know the format. I see a 194 that's it. There could be a 3 there but everything else is struck so deeply and not really anthing in that spot but a vague possible outline. I'm wondering if the 1 above the 194 is the final year. Doesn't quite make sense as I've seen other BMB dates and they follow normal formate like 1942. The Facebook "experts" are telling me they believe this to be an Israeli re-issue, the paint for Israel is original and the strap is a late WWII strap and appropriate to the helmet. So it's just missing it's liner.









The third item I got from SARCO. Not quite sure what to make of it. They state is is a Spanish Civil war artifact so that means the shell should be an original M-30 Czech helmet, but it's obviously been re-painted and has a new liner in it. So did SARCO do this or did Spain do this or is the entire thing a reproduction? Not really happy with it but it is an example of the type I guess.