Thoughts on this WWII bugle with pin up nose art on it

[warguy]

A buddy of mine picked this up at a local garage sale last weekend and I would love to hear some thoughts. The bugle has the proper markings, Regulation, US and maker marked on bell in the typical fashion and I have no doubt it is a WWII issue brass bugle from WWII. It is painted a dark OD, and I believe this paint is also period. It didnt happen often, but there are some examples of WWII brass bugles painted OD when issued. There are also OD plastic examples.

 

This one however, has a water slide decal applied to the bell. It has chipped over the years as depicted. I would love to hear some thoughts on this. I researched water slide decals and see that they were developed in 1923. Any chance this one was applied during the period????? There are a lot of these types of pinup girl water slides available today, and it seems according to the internet there is some popularity to applying them to guitars. Leave it? Soak it off? Kinda looks neat, but if there is NO chance it was applied during the period, it might be best to remove it and have a decent WWII bugle with rare paint. I will probably be selling it as I am preparing for a move and downsizing a bit. Sorry it is hard to photo the decal without glare. Thanks in advance-Kevin

[manayunkman]

These decals are scarce.

 

After 30 years cleaning out estates in Pennsylvania I only found period pin up decals once.

 

When the decal was applied is anyone’s guess.

 

Id leave it on.

[warguy]

Thanks I appreciate the opinion. I will leave it on there.