Yard Sales, Flea Markets and Antique Shops 2023

[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.