Garage Sale Bargain Basement Military Canteens, Cup, Covers and Belts

[rambob]

My wife and I are huge Estate and Garage sale groupies, but up until now I have had horrible luck finding any militaria for sale anywhere to add to my collection. Well that has ended recently when I went to an estate sale and garage sale near to my house in Cleveland, Ohio. I went to the estate sale first and headed straight to the basement first to see all of the “man” stuff such as tools, etc. My wife texted me quickly from the first floor about a canteen set and I went to take a look at it. It had a huge price on it of $1.50, so I bought it immediately. Included was a mint stainless steel Volrath 1944 dated canteen inside a nylon US military canteen cover in excellent condition. An image below shows the ink stamp markings from the cover. Lastly, the whole canteen assembly was attached to an M1956, cotton web pistol belt with vertical seams, also in excellent shape. Needless to say I was very happy with this all for less than two dollars.

 

 

 

[rambob]

The garage sale was actually only 2 miles from my house and when I arrived I spied a complete WW2 Canteen, cup, cover and belt in nice condition for $25.00. I hesitated a few minutes since I believed I had enough of this type of gear in my collection already, but reconsidered since the sum of its parts were worth more than the asking price and I bought it anyways. The canteen is a mint aluminum canteen made by S.M.CO and dated 1945 which are stamped on the side of the canteen. The mint canteen cup is aluminum with a rolled rim and made by E.A.CO and dated 1945 which are stamped to the cup bottom. The canteen cover is OD and made by ALLTEX and dated 1945 which are ink stamped on the back of the cover. On the back, the hanger is reinforced with a rectangular piece of tan web sewn on. Except for the US being faded on the front the cover is in really nice, solid shape. Lastly, the belt is a cotton web OD cotton M1936 pistol belt with horizontal seams. The keepers are blackened brass and the T-closer is the alloy, webbed style. On the inside of the belt is a very faint, but readable NascO ink stamp and 1945 date. The belt is in excellent shape except for a bit of corrosion on some of the eyelets.

 

I think this set may even be all original, complete as issued as a set and the canteen cover has an M4984 carefully inked by a soldier on the bottom.

 

So the moral of the story is never give up, never surrender when searching for military collectibles at Estate of garage sales.

Bob

[sundance]

Congrats on your good luck. Hope your luck holds.

[oldabewla]

I went to a estate sale once like that too!

 

I was at huge flea market and didn't find anything vintage military so when we were done the wife and I drove down the back road from were the flea was at about two miles and there it was a estate sale.

I was like a kid in a candy store when I enter the garage as walking around the tables set up they had a ton of WWII field gear and hats ended up buying all that was there spent $12 and had a garbage bag full of WWII military it's the only time I've ever done that.

Fun to hear others have it happen as well!