Yard Sales, Flea Markets and Antique Shops 2023

[browningautorifle]

Can we see it, please, Jim when it arrives?

So, this one sure took long enough to surface. i spent about three years looking and hunting... Then after success dealing with Mombasa Kenya, they went into hiding for a month after some attacks on Government agencies and public communications... I thought they maybe had been done in. Anyway, here are the Maasai Lion spear and the Maasai small game spear, in order.

[Aragorn243]

Slim pickings this weekend but I did find a couple of small interesting things and I found a suitable spear shaft and fit it this weekend to the spear tip I got a month or so ago.

The first item I found is a 1917 German Gemeinde Bottrop 10 Pfennig Kriegsgeld coin or token, not sure which. As there are many of these from different cities, I assume they are tokens of some sort to be used for city services maybe but not sure. Some sites say they were legal tender coins for general circulation. They have been demonetized so are no longer legal tender coins. Not really surplus related but I like to get wartime coins and currency.





The second item took some research and negotiating. The seller wanted more than I wanted to pay but I got her down to $10 which seems a good price from what I can see. It's a veterans lapel button for those that served in the 1st Canadian division in WWI. Kind of like the US "wounded duck" from WWII. Most of these that I've found are the same as this one but some have the name, unit, etc of the individual stamped between the lines as an added personalization. I haven't determined if this is a Canadian button or a British one as more British served in this division than Canadians I believe and most of the Canadians were French Canadians.





And the spear. The shaft is an 8' 1 1/8" handle, for what I have no idea. Got it at a hardware store. Knocked the metal screw cap off, shaped both ends into a Roman hasta spear. I haven't figured out how to fasten the tip to the shaft. It fits tight but if you stabbed something with it an pulled back it would probably stay in whatever you stabbed. Any suggestions? glue, epoxy, some sort of sap might be more appropriate. Total length is about 8'6" with the tip attached. Shaft is tapered at both ends.

[Flying10uk]

Any suggestions?

Araldite is a very strong adhesive if used properly and can be used to join a number of different materials together. My preference is the original version, slow drying.

Araldite - Wikipedia

[micmacman]

never mind , i give up on this forum

[Flying10uk]

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

I think the last number is a 3? However, sometimes they put the date right on the very end of one of chinstrap clips that are riveted to the helmet shell. To see it, if it's there, it's best to unclip the chinstrap and look on the end of the clip farthest from the rivet. If the date is on the clip and not obscured by paint it will be very small.

[Aragorn243]

Could be a 3, I really can't see much of anything there.

As for this weekend, hit more yard sales than usual but found nothing. 95% of the sales were Mennonites and they typically don't join the military or collect military. Flea markets I picked up two US WWII canteen, cup and cover sets, nothing unusual I think but I didn't have two of the three components in each set. The one canteen cover has Iwo Jima inscribed on it with an AF prefix service number so I suspect it was post invasion. AF being Airforce or Army Air Force. So not likely a Marine canteen. The other thing I picked up was a Swedish 1907 Browning holster. I've been watching that for over a month wondering what it was and finally figured it out Sunday. Seller had it marked Luger of course. I got it cheap, they aren't expensive holsters, a bunch of them hit the US surplus market a few years ago. Now to find the pistol. Stamped Crown with I25.

Full Service Number on the canteen is AF11350329 if anyone has access to a database.

[Aragorn243]

Flea market dealer had about a dozen of these. Most were post WWII but found these three that appear to be WWII or earlier just based on the images. Old tanks, ships or planes that didn't even exist.

The one plane is labeled "Flying Fortress" and is two engined with the propellers behind the wings. Battleship looks like the Nevada class and the planes are biplanes on the Navy case.

[Aragorn243]

One of the biggest community sales turned into a huge bust for military things. I found a couple items at other places. A GAR grave marker and two WWII period photos of US Navy ships. Another yard sale produced the models and the pick cover, I also got two mess kits from the same guy. One is dated 1982, the other is undated but he thought it was from Vietnam era, it's marked US WYOTT. Today I hit the jackpot with my Holy Grail of machetes, a DAH MK III with scabbard. It's a little rough but most are. I'll post more photos of that in the Blade Forum.

[Aragorn243]

Picked up a WWI canteen I didn't have on Sunday, a U.S.-1918-T.J.W.B.M. CO. made of aluminum. That makes five different manufacturers of the seven for 1918. Previous years were not dated or marked to my knowledge. Could have gotten one of those also but passed due to cost. Nothing yesterday. I passed on a big community sale and went to a sports memorabilia auction where I got nothing. First time since we started going to this about 10 years ago. They didn't have much and what I was interested in sold very high.

[Surpmil]

The second item took some research and negotiating. The seller wanted more than I wanted to pay but I got her down to $10 which seems a good price from what I can see. It's a veterans lapel button for those that served in the 1st Canadian division in WWI. Kind of like the US "wounded duck" from WWII. Most of these that I've found are the same as this one but some have the name, unit, etc of the individual stamped between the lines as an added personalization. I haven't determined if this is a Canadian button or a British one as more British served in this division than Canadians I believe and most of the Canadians were French Canadians.

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo.../BQqM9en-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo.../e6cq4ZV-1.jpg

It's the 1st Canadian Division formation patch. The system was introduced after the 1st Division was already in France (arr. early 1915) and was designed to permit easy ID of the wearer's formation at a glance.

You can see the whole series here

The 5th Division was broken up for reinforcements in the UK and never got to France.

The First Contingent from Canada was about two thirds British-born, but French Canadians were about one man in 33, sorry. And the same was true in WWII. In both wars serious crises arose over conscription and hostility to it among Franco-Canadians when it was introduced late in both wars.