US Victory Museum Posted February 4, 2015 Share #1 Posted February 4, 2015 Although this is an item of personal gear, I am posting itin this section because the collectors interested in thisera are more likely to see it here and to appreciate it.I consider this quite scarce because in all the time thatI have observed auctions on Ebay, at least those for whichdetailed photographs of the button snaps are included, thisis the first set I have encountered in several years whilesearching.This is an early 1st pattern 1903 cartridge belt (pre-patentdates on the hardware) that uses a unique glove snap fastener.I recently updated an old posting found in the referencesection that compares and contrasts the evolved changes byMills and Russell, as recognized by collectors, to place abelt within its historical context.The entire discussion can be found here:http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/40020-m1903-cartridge-belts/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
US Victory Museum Posted February 4, 2015 Author Share #2 Posted February 4, 2015 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
US Victory Museum Posted February 4, 2015 Author Share #3 Posted February 4, 2015 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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US Victory Museum Posted February 4, 2015 Author Share #5 Posted February 4, 2015 END POST Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry K. Posted February 4, 2015 Share #6 Posted February 4, 2015 Looks like new! Man, you keep finding the good stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GWS Posted February 5, 2015 Share #7 Posted February 5, 2015 Yes that is a rare belt indeed. Congrats! My earliest Mills must have been the next variation belt Mills made as it has the narrow tip ends with only 1904 patent dates and a different snap than your belt. Ironically, that same snap was also used by Russell on their early smooth pocket belt. Another feature of both your "1st variation" belt and my "2 variation" belt is that no Mills logo appears anywhere on either belt! Yours has plain tips and mine has only 1904 patent dates. I don't believe mine ever had the Mills bullet ink stamp either. It also strikes me a bit odd that Mills didn't inlude the the Jan. 29 '01 patent on either of these belts but they did on the later ones which have '01, '04 and '07 patent dates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GWS Posted February 5, 2015 Share #8 Posted February 5, 2015 Here's the early Russell snap and the 1907 Patent Mill's snap: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GWS Posted February 5, 2015 Share #9 Posted February 5, 2015 Opps, my belt does have the '01 date( its so easy to see in the photo!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr_rambow Posted February 5, 2015 Share #10 Posted February 5, 2015 Funny you should post this; I just received an identical example in the mail today. It has a similar lack of any markings. With the cost of the average M1903 and M1910 belts falling, I was worried that I had paid too much. Do you know when the '04 patent date hardware was implemented? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
US Victory Museum Posted February 5, 2015 Author Share #11 Posted February 5, 2015 Thanks for the follow-up, guys.GWS wrote:I don't believe mine ever had the Mills bullet ink stamp either.That would be correct, Sir. Mills did not begin to ink stamptheir logo until 1910. Since only Mills used the narrow endclasps, all these type belts are unquestionably Mills Mfg.What I found fascinating is that Mills initially produced thesebelts using the C-clasp to close them. I am re-posting theseimages from New Romantic's original post (see link in my post)from the Journal of the United States artillery c. 1904 - I'm sorry for the low resolution pictures; however, I could notfind this date of Journal at either of these sites to downloadbetter:http://catalog.hathitrust.orghttp://www.archives.gov Note the C-clamp and glove snap in this image: Nice find, Dr_rambow! Did you know the significance of it whenyou bought it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pointedcuffs Posted February 5, 2015 Share #12 Posted February 5, 2015 Awesome. That is a very hard belt to find! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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