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Now......like mentioned in my introduction topic and "What once was" topic, I still have a special place for items I haven't and will not part with. Always loved these items and decided to keep them: U.S. and Commonwealth Ration items, Tabacco items, Escape / Survival items and some small personal and hygiene items. Ration, Tabacco and escape items have my main interest and I now and then still add new items. I am not looking for them, but on occasions I come acrosss them offered for sale or trade. With personal items you need to think about: watches, medaillions, armlets, foutainpens, stationary, music instruments (pocketsize). With hygiene items: toothbrushes, toothpaste, saving stuff, soap etc. With escape / survival items: survival / escape sets like used by airman, concealed compasses, silk maps, maps only cases ( everything small, so not big ticket items like smachettes etc.) With tabacco items: pipe tabacco, cigarettes, lighters, matches, etc ( most full) With ration items: well, everything ration but not the crates and stoves or cutlery. Realy the rations, like 24 hour rations, K-rations, D-rations, parts of rations. I wrote specific commonwealth, because not only British rations, but also Canadian and Australian. Enough talked....time to show some pictures! Keep in mind, most are pictures from about 6 years ago and I have a lot more that I haven't shot pictures from yet. Enjoy!

Another piece of my collection of which I'm rather proud!It's a LW tropical tunic belonged to a FJ Uffz.!It comes from the Vet's family and as you can see the EK ribbon is missing..it was in a frame which they would keep along with several Campaign cufftitles and decorations.No...the eagle is NOT pale blue! Cheers Manu

Another funny but true quote, Winston Churchill was attending some function or other. A very prim and proper woman spoke to him in a very snotty manner, "Mr Churchill, YOUR DRUNK", He replied "Yes madam, and you are ugly, but tomorrow I shall be sober"

It might not be Historic, or famous, but to me its priceless, "Walking along a road in France, to be evacuated,a young squaddie said to my dad " Sarge, I,m fed up with all this retreating lark" Dad replied "We,re not retreating son, We,re getting the F*^k out of here before we get our Bo***ks shot off." the old man was never one to mince his words>

"Are you blind????? Call me chicken one more time.....!!!!"

Thanks @ahrtal!I'd gave left them alone but you know the saying about spilt milk!IMHO they could be worn with any style of trousers and no...I don't have low boots anymore!Prolly @DAK D,our resident DAK Man,owns a pair! Cheers Manu

Here is my first post and I figured I would put up some photos of my US WWI uniforms. I don't collect much outside of what would of actually been worn in the trenches, so my uniform collection is probably bland for those expecting to see unit patches and various other adornments that would of been added Post-Armistice. So first up is a rather interesting wool coat. This one in particular was made by Henry Sonneborn & Co., Inc. in Baltimore, Maryland. It is contract number 847 dated September of 1917. It is made of a heavier blanket style wool and does not have the cotton lining that is seen in earlier uniforms. The overall texture of the wool itself is rather soft compared to others that I own or have handled. Specifically, this tunic features the plain US and Infantry disks and a single corporal's chevron on the right arm as was the regulation during the war. So please bear with me as I am trying out a new camera and attempting to figure out the proper settings to get the best shot. So without further ado, here are the photos. Thank you, Mike

Just a couple of pair I picked up long ago. First pair worn; second pair appear never worn. Had a selling fever and sold off the two tropical shirts and holster rig that were a part of the set. Seller's remorse, of course. Collectors' Guild had a set of the second pair for sale recently. Steve

Wanted to post some pics before I delete from phone

Thought you guys might like this

Morning Gents I was quite happy to be able to add this Mk I to my collection it has a lovely patina and well used look about with much of the sand textured finish still visible on the exterior of the shell . The helmet body was manufactured by ( HS ) Hadfields Ltd of Sheffield England and IMO was manufactured post October 31 1916 as the shell has been finished in a sand textured overcoat the info I have suggests these can be found painted in either a pail blue grey,green,Khaki brown and or tan. The liner bares the War Office Pattern red stamp and the patent number 11803/16 which would put the liner construction no earlier than October 31 1916 I do know there was a second round of modifications to the liner in early 1917 with the addition of a rubber ring set in the dome pad and held in place by the leather strap which makes this a post 1917 example. Regards Mark

I have seen these blades @DAK D , but not all are escape versions. Would need to check my references on how and what, but I haven't any my self. But otherwise they are definitly "escape equipment items"! Yep, British ration items are very expenisive. About 6 months ago I bought 10 items from a guy and had to pay about € 1400,- for it!!!! But, I was happy I COULD buy it and found him.

@Davejb, was talking to a mate the other day, he's a turner to trade, and worked for years at a local foundry, Cruikshanks in Denny, he was telling me, that in the early 70's, every second day for years, two articulated lorries showed up, loaded with Brodie helmets for the furnace....he did a count and reckoned well over 1/4 million went through the smelter in the foundry....seemingly, they also held a massive stock of them in the yard, he says the pile was almost 30 feet high, and 40-50yds long.......that was only one "smallish" foundry, so, imagine what was being melted down....

Newbie question.....Why were they painted with the "textured" finish, IMHO, was it to stop "Glare" ??? Whatever the reason, it must have worked as they painted them like that through two world wars...:)

The longer arrow points at where the stitching had stopped!

"They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist...." General John Sedgwick, Last Words

Many ORIGINAL pairs of tropical Y-straps!

Hi @Henri, I haven't seen some of those items in years, so thanks for sharing! Blunderbuss Antiques was the place in London to buy these items, although other dealers had some good bits too. D

They're in great nick Nick, very nice mate!

Thats a fine example of a Meyer, but it has always made me wonder if they copied our officers caps, for this model

Now you have to think Aussie here.... Scene- The Trenches, WW1........Bombardment overhead......troops moving up to the front......some of them Australian replacements. They reach the front line......a Posh British Officer shouts to one of them " HAVE YOU COME HERE TO DIE "............(THINK AUSSIE ACCENT)...........the young Australian Soldier hesitates for a minute then says ..........................." NAWE, WE GOT HERE YESTER-DIE " ......

They signed me up for a War Film.....they didn't say anything about a rabbit suit ...boy it's hot.......maybe I'm meant to be a RABBIT STEW !

Dave and one of those helms now will fetch considerably more on the market than some of the nicer German Camo's I have seen the cruise brodie are very hard to find and are extremely expensive ... Regards Mark

Very Nice Post War Mk II HSRAC's @Norrie The Mk II has one distinguishing feature that sets it a side from the Mk I that being that the Mk II has the removable liner with the 'Lift the Dot' centre fastener and the Mk I,s liner is held in place by a liner retention nut and bolt as seen in the images below of a few of these helmets from my own collection these helmets were used from very late in 1945 and ended there service some time in and around the mid 1980's in the service of the Royal Navy so they have had a long service life indeed.. Chinstraps for these are normally seen in three different variation the Mk II version is all elastic and can be found in either khaki drill or on later versions olive drab and finally there is the Mk III version with the quick release. Regards Mark

So do I ..

Another superb collection @Henri, truly stunning

And here they are.......the 6lbers. Both solid shot, both WW2 dated, both awesome!!! Unfortunately, the 'wash' to pick out the letter of the flat top didn't work very well due to the other corrosion around the stamp, so I just picked out the visible letters with a light wash colour. First picture is where they sit in the display, second without their friends. The last picture shows a 50cal as well, for scale

Yeah i would be up for Carlisle, depending on dates. Its only an hour and a half away for me.

Hi @DAK D...they're ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT!

Hi @Manu Della Valle, The two types series of cartoons are great! D

I LOVE the Two Types!

TAN THOSE BLOODY KNEES ALREADY!

Thank ye @Lenny! Daftie does the

Hold on ya daftie, you've already got it.. so the system DOES work, you got it on Saturday.. Ok, I misread that... hold on...

"Two Types" D

Another great lid!Thank you for sharing that @Mark K

Cracking helmet!

STEVE T has angered the Rabbit community so much by digging into their burrows that they hired Thumper the assassin to take him out!!!!!!!!!!!

Peter Rabbit's attempts to steal radishes from Mr McGregor's garden have escalated dramatically...........

Next up is the shirt and wool uniform to a Battery C, 7th Division Field Artillery set. This one also came with a pair of breeches and a set of wool puttees. However, this uniform was to a PFC as can be seen by the wool chevron that came in the pocket. It has the 7th Div. patch, Honorable Discharge chevron, 2 overseas stripes, and a Victory Medal ribbon. So far I have not located a name anywhere in the uniform, which is a real bummer as it would make a great piece to research. The shirt originally had holes poked in the collar for disks, but I imagine they are the ones that are on the uniform. Thanks, Mike

Then you'd hate this picc then !

Just thought id give a heads up on here to everyone. Looks like the guy who trades on Ebay as Somme_1916 is at it again. He has a website called Relics from the Front and in the aviation section he is offering a large heavy lump of what he has described as WW2 RAF Short Stirling propeller hub part. This is rubbish what he is offering with its fake history as a Short Stirling hub is rather unsurprisingly from a Wright Cyclone engine more than likely from a B17 engine. I have owned hub parts from B17's and know exactly what the exterior and internal parts look like. It is true that there was a Prototype Stirling that flew with Wright Cyclone engines but this model crashed and never went into production. The Short Stirling used Bristol Hercules engines. Hes offering this "rare" item for £175-best avoided but I thought id post to try and make everyone aware. Cheers Tim.

This piece was listed on his Relics from The Front website though he has done same on ebay to a number of buyers but at least people are aware now.

Wow it has been a long few days. I have been away at the Show of Shows in Louisville, Kentucky over the weekend and picked up some uniforms that I will share with you all. First up is a World War I 78th Division Infantry 2nd Lieutenant tunic. This one is tailor made and features a 78th Division patch on the left shoulder. One of the things that is interesting about it is the LT. bars are directly embroidered to the uniform. It also came with a rather nice pair of matching breeches that have the button up calves, which I neglected to photograph. It is named and I will attempt to research it later on. The seller was pretty sure it was unidentified, even after showing him the tailor tag in the inside pocket. There is actually another neat feature about this uniform that I did not discover until after I got back to the hotel. Inside the breeches was an early Pennsylvania United States Volunteers dog tag in the pocket, which happens to match the name on the tailor tag. Which is pretty lucky for me considering I have only found tobacco and a dirty handkerchief in all of the others I have owned. Unfortunately it is missing one button and there is one that doesn't match and I will fix the missing one in the near future. If it looks like the bottom button is off, that is because it is. Apparently the veteran continued wearing the uniform after the war, and after gaining weight, and moved the bottom two so it would fit a bit better. Thanks, Mike

I think one of the best quotes but also the most double edged is "It will be long and hard and there will be no withdrawal" Winston Churchill 1939