Boxed camo paste set

[Fixbayonets!]

I have had this camo paste set for years & I have never seen another or learned anything about it. It was manufactured by Colonial Dames Co. Ltd., a company that I believe made cosmetics for Hollywood. The set consisits of two tubes of camo paste - one tube of No. 1 light green and one tube of No. 3 sand and an instruction sheet. It looks WWII period to me but I was wondering if anyone could confirm. I was also interested to find out if this set was issued, private purchase, or made for Hollywood use? The instructions go into some detail about how it can be used to camouflage equipment, buckles, buttons, watches, windshileds, headlights, etc. so this leads me to believe it was made for military use rather than Hollywood.

 

Thanks!

Rob

[Fixbayonets!]

Tubes of camo paste.......

[Fixbayonets!]

Instruction sheet.......

[Fixbayonets!]

Part of instruction sheet showing how to camo face & helmet...........

[king802]

Rob,

 

These are original WW2 issue and very very hard to find. You did very well finding these. I was offered one tube about 8 years ago and it was going for around $240. Should have bought it.

 

You can see these being used in Southern France by the 509th PIB -The Op Dragoon book my Mike DeTrez has pictures of them.

 

Very rare item :thumbsup:

 

Rich

[ken88]

These camo paste products were indeed made by various make-up manufacturers.

 

Very nice item and hard to come by, unlike the regular army issued camouflage tubes. You've got to be careful not to step on one. :w00t:

[Fixbayonets!]

Hey, great news!!!! Thanks for the info guys!!!!

 

Rob

[ccyooper]

I hate to resurrect old posts but I noticed a couple of weeks ago that a FM 5-20A, Camouflage of individuals and infantry weapons Feb 44 sold in the for sale section. I pulled out my copy and noticed that no where in the pub does it mention these tubes of camouflage. Were they originally developed for the Marine Corps? I ask because I know they were produced by numerous company's, Colonial Dames, Coty, etc. as a follow on to makeups used to cover up scars and wounds on injured soldiers. Elizabeth Arden cosmetics also made/developed lipstick for the female Marines and thus red became popular during and after the war. It matched the uniform color (i'm not making this stuff up). They also made camouflage paste too. Collectors have great interest in them because they are clearly depicted in Detrez's 1st AAB book, and I suspect used by the numerous troops and pathfinders during Normandy yet they are not mentioned in the above pub. Does anyone have a stock number or reference for the tubes as an Army issue item or Marine Corps/Navy item prior to Normandy? I know for a fact that Colonial Dames worked with the Marines to develop their product as did Elizabeth Arden which is why I ask. Based upon the predominant colors (greens) and contents of mosquito dope also leads me to believe this. Ps and does a tube really sell for that much, $240?

 

There is a reference link (Army supply catalog) somewhere in the forum for Camo sticks that were developed in late 44 or early 45.

 

Regards,

CC

[gitana]

This is taken from the Corps of Engineers Historical Report No. 18: Camouflage Activities June 1942-May 1945. It looks like 150,000 tubes of each was provided, enough for each platoon given camouflage suits

 

 

 

[ccyooper]

Thanks, that's interesting. I have a 5 tube box of Coty, a 3 tube box of Elizabeth Arden, and a 5 tube box of Col Dames with additional instructions. Since the boxes are essentially the same I'll post the Colonial Dames with instructions because it will give the Marine collectors something else to search for. The Arden and Coty box have the instruction written on the box outside and inside respectively. The Col-Dames box cover, representative tubes, front and back, and the new instructions for the addition of repellent. I will post the large set of camo instructions next that came in the box which was developed with assistance of the 2nd Marine Div.

[ccyooper]

The Col-Dames instruction sheet

 

[Fixbayonets!]

That is a very nice set, thanks for posting! I would imagine that my set predates your set as it does not contain the insect repellent. The instructions of your set states "This camouflage paste now contains insect repellent", so I would take it this is the new & improved version. I see you have a theory that this paste was originally developed for the Marine Corps but if the insect repellent was added later could it be the other way around?

 

Rob

[ccyooper]

Rob,

It sure could be. I made some weak assumptions based upon a 1944 FM that does not mention camo paste/sticks and we know that the cosmetic companies were making items for scars prior to 1944. I have read other items on the web too that lead me to the idea but looking back on it, I should have not mentioned it because that is how bad information gets passed without fact. I did notice that there appears to be a similarity between the cartoon figure in you instruction sheet and the instruction I posted. I wonder if Saylor did both of them considering it is the same company?

 

The E Arden box does not mention repellent and the tubes do not either (earlier?). The Coty tubes do not mention repellent but the box instructions indicate that it is included. Just thought I would throw that out there as an observation. Also, even though the box sizes are different, the Arden and Coty have the little fold wire enclosure (unlike yours) and were produced by the Mason box company. The Col-Dames box is unmarked. Thanks for the comments and post getting this started. Not to much info out there regarding the camo tubes.

[ccyooper]

Eliz Arden,,

[ccyooper]

Since this is a learning forum, might as well post the Coty items.

[ccyooper]

Coty Tubes..

[kammo-man]

Great post !

 

thanks for the information.

 

owen

[king802]

I've also got a box of the 5 Coty tubes. Mine (supposedly) came from the Estate of a Marine Corps sniper who was KIA. I've posted them on the forum before.

 

Hard to find items.

 

Rich

[ccyooper]

Great post !

 

thanks for the information.

 

owen

 

Thanks.. by the way I enjoyed Fury. My dad was a WWII 2AD soldier and I was a modern day 2AD'r once in my lifetime.

[jgawne]

Interesting none have contract or stock numbers on them. I wonder if this might have been done as they were rushed through production? Anyone have any that have such things on the boxes?

[Fixbayonets!]

Rob,

It sure could be. I made some weak assumptions based upon a 1944 FM that does not mention camo paste/sticks and we know that the cosmetic companies were making items for scars prior to 1944. I have read other items on the web too that lead me to the idea but looking back on it, I should have not mentioned it because that is how bad information gets passed without fact. I did notice that there appears to be a similarity between the cartoon figure in you instruction sheet and the instruction I posted. I wonder if Saylor did both of them considering it is the same company?

 

The E Arden box does not mention repellent and the tubes do not either (earlier?). The Coty tubes do not mention repellent but the box instructions indicate that it is included. Just thought I would throw that out there as an observation. Also, even though the box sizes are different, the Arden and Coty have the little fold wire enclosure (unlike yours) and were produced by the Mason box company. The Col-Dames box is unmarked. Thanks for the comments and post getting this started. Not to much info out there regarding the camo tubes.

You have a fantastic collection of these camo paste kits, thanks again for posting them! The instruction sheet in my kit only contains 2 cartoons. The one that you can see in my post looks like it could very well be by the same artist although the cartoon is not signed. The second cartoon is not visible in my posts above but it is done by an artist working for the Saturday Evening Post, signature looks like Eric Peress?

 

Rob

 

[dustin]

Could it be that why these don't have stock numbers is because they came from a master carton which would most likely had the stock number on it? not untypical at all

[ccyooper]

Dustin,

 

good point, but considering that we have 4 different boxes and 3 manufactures it would seem that one would have a stock/contract number on it. Would that mean that a unit of issue would be a case with 10/20 boxes? The later sticks have their own stock number, and appear in a 44 or 45 dated supply catalog. Not sure what the smallest order could be but if I recall correctly from another forum thread they were in boxes of 300. That's sort of what prompted me to ask my original question. Maybe the stock/contract can be found in a Navy supply catalog because an Army source has not surfaced yet?

 

CC

[sgtpeter]

Great topic! Lots of interesting packages. War paint is one of those things that GIs hate to wear

 

I thought I would be helpful and say that early postal codes (Hollywood, 27, Calif.) weren't introduced until after the war. However the USPS website indicates they were first introduced in May 1943 for 128 cities. Still trying to find the list of those 128 cities. So we can narrow it down a little and maybe even assume that we are looking at 1944 as earliest date allowing time for printing etc.

 

http://about.usps.com/publications/pub100/pub100_029.htm

 

I checked QM1(1943), QM3-1(1945),QM3-3(1945) and QM3-4(1945) and could not find any reference to individual camouflage paint. Does anybody have the Engineer supply catalogs?

 

Peter

[ccyooper]

The individual sticks are listed in qm 3-4 45 I believe. The postal code is an interesting starting point.