Flare found in WWI gas mask...any idea?

[Spearhead]

All,

I found this wood flare in this WWI gas mask. Any idea if the flare is associated with the WWI gas mask? If not, does anyone recognize the flare?

 

Appreciate any thoughts,

 

J.R.

 

(Forum Monitor: please advise if I need to move this to another area)

[Championhilz]

That's not a flare - it's a wooden time fuse for a Civil War Mortar shell - the marks on the fuse body are where it would be sawed off depending on how long a fuse you needed for the distance to the target.

[gwb123]

Now that is cool... looks almost pristine, and with the label intact no less! I imagine there are Civil War ordnance collectors who'd like to have their hands on that.

[TheGrayGhost]

Awesome, you just never know what you'll find! Never would have guessed it was a fuse. Great condition for being almost 150 years old, the label looks almost new!

[Patriot]

Pretty common item, but what on earth was it doing inside the gas mask???

[Spearhead]

All,

Thanks for the help with identification. I have no idea on how it ended up in the mask carrier or that it was that old. I thought the year printed was some sort of lot number.

 

Thanks again. I really enjoy the forum and being able to leverage other collectors' knowledge.

 

J.R.