Yard Sales, Flea Markets and Antique Shops 2023

[Aragorn243]

Slow day today, just two 1943 canteens a 1945 cup, a modern, no date cup and 1951 mess kit, $15 for the lot. I didn't have a 1943 canteen prior to today. Also got two five round clips of ammo for my 1888 Mannlicher and Werndle rifles at the gun show.

[Aragorn243]

Yard sales once again a bust this weekend. Only found a few, rain in the area. Flea markets were better with the everything is a dollar guy being back. I found five items with him, most of them I am still in the dark about. The first I know is a Revere 8mm movie camera. Why include this here? Because one of these is what a couple used in Pearl Harbor to film some of the footage we see of the bombings. These cameras were made from 1940-1946 and I suspect quite a few soldiers managed to take some battlefield footage with them. Not officially, they had better cameras than this but privately owned. And for a dollar, it's going in my Home Front section.









Next is a mystery item. I'm pretty sure it is Italian WWII issue of some sort. Again, for $1, why not.















Next is a nice US Navy hat, not sure on the era but probably WWII.









Best guess on this one is a French Fireman's Brigade helmet. It's pretty small, too small for me so I assumed a child's toy but another collector said it's a Fireman's helmet from a day when people were smaller than now. It does look just like one I've found online. I've had two individuals confirm it is a fireman's helmet from the 1890's. One says French, one says German. I've found two very similar ones online that say French so that's where I'm still leaning.







And finally, a mystery rifle sling. This does look familiar to me but I'm drawing a blank.







My last pickup of the day wasn't at the dollar section unfortunately. I didn't have one so I got this as a placeholder until a better one comes along. A Mark 1 USN knife by Colonial. Has a pretty large chip out of the blade but is in otherwise decent shape. Sharpen and reshape blade or leave it alone? Leaving it alone for now. Hate that chip however.

[browningautorifle]

That knife is a nice piece, I wouldn't get to wrapped up about the chip. Hard to find hard rubber handle, I think those are post war. Don't ask me to prove it, I can't.

Is the helmet brass or is my eyes?

[Aragorn243]

From what I can find, it's WWII production. All the Colonial brand knives were made with this handle, fancy name. I read it but don't remember it. PAL and the other manufacturers used leather grips. Supposedly, so many were made they were still issuing them through Vietnam.

The helmet is brass. The similar examples I found were from the 1890's, French Fire Brigade. It's so small. I know people were smaller then. I have a small head and still need one of the large German helmets to be comfortable. This may have been a small from back then, no way I can wear it.
,

[browningautorifle]

From what I can find, it's WWII production. All the Colonial brand knives were made with this handle, fancy name.

OK then.

Supposedly, so many were made they were still issuing them through Vietnam.

That too I heard. My Kbar with the VP scabbard is a WW2 marked knife that I obtained from a US SEAL on board the USS Alamo in 1980. They had them by the box full...so your pattern could easily exist too.

[Flying10uk]

The first I know is a Revere 8mm movie camera.

My grandmother purchased a Pathe 9.5mm cine camera in the late 1920's early 30's period for home movies etc. I still have it together with the projector and a number of rolls of film. 9.5 film had just a single sprocket which ran down the centre but didn't interrupt the picture. At some point in time my late father had "heard about" "nitrate film spontaneously bursting into flames" and had assumed all old film to be "nitrate film" There wasn't any question of my father allowing the film to be disposed of and periodically the matter of the "nitrate" film "burning the house down would crop up. When I spoke to my father about the possibility of the film self igniting and setting fire to the house the response was that the film was stored in a biscuit tin which will "hopefully" contain any fire. The "hopefully" bit wasn't very reassuring.

Fast forward to the present day and I thought that it was about time that I did something about the old cine film as it was still where my late father had left it, still in the biscuit tin. I looked online and discovered that 9.5mm and 8mm film never were made with a nitrate base and all the fears of 9.5 film spontaneously bursting into flames were unfounded.

I wonder if the leather case is for some sort of optics like a sight?

[Aragorn243]

Some sort of optics is what I figure it probably is but what specifically, no idea. It was suggested by others that it might be for artillery.

[Flying10uk]

It reminds me of the Yugo M59 sight case. (photo found on internet)

[Aragorn243]

That is a pretty good match. Shape and size very close, even the straps are similar. Mine is missing the straps but they go on the sides and the bottom.

Apparently, the deal of the day was that crappy brass helmet, LOL. I thought it was a toy, but I have several people on a Facebook group drooling all over it. They can't seem to make up their minds, German, Bavarian, French? All pretty much agree it's a fireman's helmet and from the 1890's.

[Flying10uk]

Weiss is a German name scribed on the underside of one peak of the helmet. I can't make out all of the letters on the underside of the other peak but it looks like a German word.