Painted helmet and theater made patches

[Ray42]

Well this week has been an extremely tough one for law school... but at least it made up for it with great antique store finds and mail calls. Who ever said that money cannot buy happiness has never had a painted m1917 show up two days early while they are losing their mind trying to finish a paper. The real winner however seems to be the Italian made patches, not only did I add two fairly rare scrolls, but also a great theater made 34th/88th div. artillery jacket and two 88th Div patches with the bullion devil faces. The bullion patches are a little beat up, but they are not bad for only $50. With any luck I will be able to put a name to the jacket since I know where it came from and have a laundry number. 

 

Another item that made my day was the BAR belt pictured, that and some of the other field gear came from a local antique shop and to my surprise was labeled "army belt with pockets $20". The belt is a 1942 S Froehlich co and in fairly good shape except for where it looked like a mouse chewed on it. I have never had one before but I am cautiously optimistic that it is real. 

 

Just thought I would share my finds, I hope you enjoyed seeing them and I welcome any comments. Thanks.

[Dave T]

Hey, that is some nice stuff!

Great 34th/88th Ike jacket! It appears that both patches are "blooded". I dont recall seeing that on Army patches before, only WWII USMC.

Also, nice field gear...love the cross flap USMC canteen.👍

Also great 88th bullion patches👍

[268th C.A.]

Nice finds! love that 80th helmet! 

[Ray42]

2 hours ago, Dave T said:

Great 34th/88th Ike jacket! It appears that both patches are "blooded". I dont recall seeing that on Army patches before, only WWII USMC.

Thanks! I think this is actually different from the "bloodied" patches of the USMC. On rare occasions you see army uniforms where the vet outlined their patches with the overseas piping of their branch. It is most common with the infantry, artillery, and the Air Corps branches, although I feel like I have seen examples of uniforms with similar cording from other branches as well. Interestingly, I think the reason the piping on the 88th side looks so much better then the 34th is because the 34th looks like it originally had a cream colored cord around it and that was rolled under the patch when the red piping was sewn on. My guess was that he was originally with the 34th Quartermaster company and then got transferred to the 88th at some point probably after the war. He probably decided to change colors so they would match, but it would have been pretty neat if the patches were corded to different branches. 

 

Also since you like the canteen I will add that it might be named to a Navy Corpsman with the 5th Marine Div on Iwo Jima. 

[katieony]

Really nice finds...congratulations!

[Ray42]

Looks like I forgot about one which showed up yesterday, it isnt as flashy as some of the others but a well named 97th infantry division uniform with the Vet's service being confirmed by his obituary is a pretty decent find in my book. One less division to locate until I have a named item from every division.

[huntssurplus]

Some great items here. Nothing like mail call to brighten up a day. Thanks for posting! 

[Dave T]

All antique store finds Ray?

[Dave T]

6 hours ago, Ray42 said:

Looks like I forgot about one which showed up yesterday, it isnt as flashy as some of the others but a well named 97th infantry division uniform with the Vet's service being confirmed by his obituary is a pretty decent find in my book. One less division to locate until I have a named item from every division.

All antique store finds Ray?

[Ray42]

3 hours ago, huntssurplus said:

Some great items here. Nothing like mail call to brighten up a day. Thanks for posting! 

Glad you appreciated seeing them.

3 hours ago, Dave T said:

All antique store finds Ray?

It was a fairly even mix of Antique stores, Facebook, and eBay. 

[TheGoose]

Absolutely incredible!!

[postmanusnac]

Love the 97th jacket.

[retread12345]

NO EXPERT.    I  don't think you have any worries with the BAR belt. I have seen. many near new originals than fakes

The USMC canteen cover.  Dated ?? Named ??  Porcelain  or Aluminum ?? Stainless ?    This looks like the one I was looking for

but never found !!  Great pile of quality items

[Ray42]

On 5/17/2021 at 2:59 PM, retread12345 said:

 

The USMC canteen cover.  Dated ?? Named ??  Porcelain  or Aluminum ?? Stainless ?    This looks like the one I was looking for but never found !! 

Thanks for all the great feedback, but Sorry it took so long to reply I’ve been busy with graduations, including mine from law school and my brothers from West Point.

 

The canteen cover is not dated, but it does have a hand written name that I think matches a 5th marine div corpsman who recieved the silver star and was wounded on Iwo Jima. The canteen is stainless I think.