Army isssue wallets

[sixthofjune44]

Hey fellas,

 

I've got a customer who has a Nylon wallet that is OD w/ the "US" stamp and he says it was made by blind people for the war effort. He said he picked it up an army surplus store some years ago. It's a billfold w/ I think a flap and three snaps. It's most definitely from the 60's or newer, but I can't find a way to ask him if I can examine and ooggle his wallet. I'd love to find one, but I haven't seen any pop up on Ebay, and I've never seen anything like this before. I unfortunately don't know if it actually is a wallet, but if not, it fills that role greatly.

 

The question I guess is, does anybody know if the army issued wallets through out the years. I know for the most part you could buy them at the PX, but I fought that they were just civilian types.

 

If anybody has any in a collection I'd love to see pictures.

 

 

Thanks,

 

Paul

[gwb123]

Your friend might be referring to Lighthouse for the Blind which among other things has had sheltered contracts for government items in the past. As the name implies, they provide employment and vocational opportunities for the visually impaired.

 

And, they are still very much in business, and still producing wallets!

 

http://www.lighthouse-sf.org/catalog/index...715fd7b70c0cc80

 

As for your, I have not heard of an "issue" wallet in the post 1960's era, but we'll let our WWII experts chime in. But I would imagine products from the Lighthouse for the Blind would have been sold in the PX.

[craig_pickrall]

In the late 70's and thru the 80's there were many items that were well made in nylon. At some point and Ican't put a date on it but the quality dropped off and it became cheap imported stuff. There were wallets, key cases, pocket knife belt cases, etc. None of this stuff was issue but it was readily available at all the gear shops around bases.

[hawkdriver]

For the last five years, I have carried a nylon wallet that I bought at the PX made by Spec Ops in ACU pattern. Prior to that, I had one for about four years that was OD green. AAFES always has an entire wall of items straight from Brigade Quartermaster, Spec Ops, Wiley-X, Hatch, Southwest Motor Sports, and any other company that is popular at the time. As for having a US stamp on it, that would be odd, but not out of the question.

I won't say never ever, but I have never seen an issued wallet in my tenure, but I have seen people on this forum pull out stranger stuff.

[sixthofjune44]

Thanks guys. I appreciate the replies. I know that when you can buy a bunch of different civilian "black" gear at the bases like U.S. Cav, Brigade, Spec Ops, etc. This wallet did have the simple "US" stencil on the back of it. The OD was similar to all the gear from the 80's. I guess I'll have to try and find a reference for different pouches and see if I can spot it. It very well may be some sort of assorted gear pouch that he just uses as a wallet. Like I said I've only seen it quickly and from 3 feet away.

 

Does anybody know of another good reference point where I can see nylon gear. Web, book, etc.?

 

Thanks,

Paul

[sixthofjune44]

Edit/Update

 

I think I might have stumbled on my answer. I was thinking about pouches, and thought about the M16 cleaning pouch. It has the 3 snaps that I saw, and is kind of wallet like. I didn't see an Alice clip, but he probably took that off anyway. I don't own one, but I seem to remember them having the "US" stamp. Which it should, since it's issued gear. If you were to fold it in half, it would function as a bifold easily. There's a gunshow coming up in a week or so. I'll see if I can pick one up, and let you all know.

 

Also, for my fellow reenactors and WWI-Korea collectors. Anybody have pics of wallets?

 

Thanks again,

Paul

[craig_pickrall]

There are several posts that cover either wallets or money belts scattered around the forum. They are usually part of larger threads and hard to find with a search.

 

This is some of the info I have.

 

First are ads from the 1943-44 SEARS catalog.

 

[craig_pickrall]

This is a WW2 era money belt carried by my father.

 

[craig_pickrall]

This is another WW2 era money belt.