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VMI & WW2

Today’s lesson for us Jeep uninitiated, are the wind screens made of actual glass? Are they just crusted over or has the material actually degraded?

You folks have better eyes than I do. Is that a helmet he is standing on? And that little blurry dog running past has me crying. At 25 years old my dear daughter moved out of our house and into her own place last weekend. And I’m heartbroken 😭😭😭! SHE TOOK HER TWO DOGS WITH HER! I miss my boys sooooo much! 😭😭. But they are only 6 miles away and they are here on days Kiddo is working.

Thank you for all sharing these….its great to see an example of the cap and how it compared to the Chinese made winter caps the Marines used. Here is another one from Siberia…..and of course the China/asiatic seagoing Marines also used these until the late 20’s, when they were finally able to purchase locally made cap as the US Govt had stopped buying the muskrat caps in the early 20’s due to cost.

Hi Elisabeth, Sorry to say the name Cohen doesn't ring a bell. Also I haven't visited the Camp Top Hat location for quite a while. The site has just about disappeared as there are huge construction works going on for the creation of a new tunnel under the Scheldt river and a new highway ring around the Western side of Antwerp. A lot of the new roads will be going right across what was once Top Hat. Works have been ongoing for a few years now. I have no idea what is still to be seen on site and the image below shows the construction lay-out Camp Top Hat would have been located SW of where you read SINT ANNABOS Johan

Okay , it’s not only me , who struggles with those wings , but we can only read ,look and learn from other collectors . the ones I want is only ww2 , I mostly collect German equipment, the wings is just a little xtra I do regards Ralph

Thanks! This one is NFS. Sounds like he had good taste in bring backs!

This style of armband with a celluloid pin was used most commonly from the 40’s into the 50’s:

A photo of Maj. Gen. William S. Graves (Commanding General American Expeditionary Force - Siberia; seated, center) and staff, Vladivostok, November 23, 1918. You can see the many variations of fur caps in this photo as well. There were many with tall and short side flaps. Regards, Chris

John, Some nice caps you shared. There are many variations of these fur caps that show up in period photographs for The American Expeditionary Force Siberia and The American North Russian Expeditionary Forces. Signal Corps Photos Below is a photo of Captain Otto Odjard Company A 339th Infantry with U.S. overcoat and private purchase fur hat. As shown is Signal Corps photo 158850 and the book "Detroit's Own" Polar Bears by Stanley & Jon Bozich. Also, below is a photo of what was a special issue of winter clothing and the fur cap. Signal Corps photo 159492 caption reads, Articles of winter clothing and equipment, a special issue to American troops serving in North Russia. Fur cap, cap, balaclava, woolen mitts with index fingers, mitts with gauntlets and cuffs. Archangel, Russia. AEFS Fur Cap Below is an American Expeditionary Forces Siberia fur cap in my collection with markings on the inside to 27th Infantry Regiment Company A. There were issued and private purchase fur caps with many variations. Regards, Chris

@Pryo, You are correct. The only things I would add is that the die for these likely had its origin during WW1 and the unknown company that manufactured these (sometimes they are found hallmarked "WING") evidently made them at least through WW2. Chris

I am a volunteer at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum in Manitowoc, Wi. and we have one of these that is used to control a 67 ton steam engine from a ship run by electricity. The main unit has burned out the coils in it and the museum visitors can no longer control the engine. This is a selsyn transmitter that goes to another one that tells an Allen Bradley PLC 5/60 what to do. I may have to find another transmitter to replace it. I did find a couple on EBAY. But I will have to take it out of it's housing to find a part number.

There's some good information here, including the positively identified markings: m1917 codes

Thank you so much! This helps solve a long time mystery that Ive had since I brought it back home to America 20 years ago

Don't forget, with fees, etc, the consignor ended up with nowhere near $4600 in his pocket. In some cases auction houses may be the way to go, but my experience selling with them has been mixed.

Hammer KaBar, This modification is noted on pages 310 and 311 of the aforementioned book. It is as you suspected made for the SMLE. There are two types of modifications shown. The first one has the original barrel ring cut off and a new one welded on.. The second one shown, like yours, was done in Afghanistan and replaces the entire cross guard with a P1907 guard. Originally, your bayonet was made in the US for the British. It's a P13 made in November 1916. In the book there is no mention as to rarity, but unless a bunch of them come to the US, it will remain quite rare here. Hope this helps. Marv

11th Engineer Bn, probably from when it was stationed at Ft. Stewart in the 1990's.

I don’t know if Rock Island is the best place to ascertain current prices. It is a good reference point but I think it would be on the higher end of prices as their stuff tends to be higher end. I would definitely look at gunbroker as well. There are several forums that have trading pages too. 917601, your rifle looks promising. I cut stock, push button mag release, correct barrel band, rear sight, etc. are all correct for the gun. Some more pictures are needed though. With the correct internals, the value goes up. Inlands are the most abundant but the early ones tend to be more desirable. I’m with Dirt Detective on the price. $1800-2000 is a good starting point.

Thanks for the input Kurt. What about the reverse threads indicates it might be 1950s? I also thought khaki was the typical color of backing material on WWII patches, is it the amount of edge that's untrimmed that points towards it being 1950s rather than WWII? Or is it something else? Not doubting you here, just wanting to learn more on how to get a better sense of the age of a patch!

Bellflower is tomorrow

917601, When you say that prices are all over the place, do you mean all WW2 era Inland carbines or just the "I" cut, early carbines? Early, all original, Inland carbines with the "I" cut stocks are extremely hard to find. Yes, there are a lot of WW2 era Inland carbines out there but if yours is an all original "I" cut Inland, then that is something special. I am down to two WW2 M1 carbines and one M1A1 carbine. One of my M1s is an early all original Inland "I" cut carbine. Because I believe that one day I will sell all my WW2 era firearms I try to follow the prices of pieces that closely resemble mine in condition, originality and serial number range. One that very closely resembled mine in condition and very close in serial number range sold at Rock Island's Premier Gun auction on September 2021 for $4600. I have not stopped looking since 2021. Since 2021 Rock Island has had other Premier Gun auctions, with many an Inland M1 and M1A1, but none with a similar condition early "I" cut. The point of my story is know what exactly you got and do your own digging.' CG

Usually if you find their boot camp entries and look at the documents themselves, the service number is listed with the name. It's a different looking document, essentially a roster with just names and service numbers. Only on very rare occasions have I not found a USMC service number in the muster rolls.

Not really. Tags from certain battles can be worth hundreds, and it takes very little effort to stamp and artificially age tags if someone can get their hands on an original stamping machine. Fortunately, for now, more reproduction tags are meant for reenactors and aren't trying to deceive. Some fakes currently available on the market:

Based on the reverse threads and khaki edge, looks 1950's to me. The "feather rule" is certainly kind of cool sounding, but I don't totally buy it. I look at how the patch is constructed, just like I do any other division patch. And unless it's sewn to a dated WW2 Ike jacket, it can sometimes be impossible to tell if WW2 or Korean War.

Love seeing dug relics and these dog tags are great finds!