This is interesting and think this one of the biggest misnomers to knives in that the pommel is aluminum, they are actually a polished zinc.   

This is a Smith & Wesson pre-Victory model revolver that was purchased as a part of a 1,000 unit order by the Treasury Department on December 2, 1941 - just a few days before the U.S. entered WW2.  This particular revolver, serial number 982602 was shipped to the United States Maritime Commission in San Francisco on May 11, 1942.  It is possible this revolver was used for guarding the ship building operations in the San Francisco area.   It is configured with a 4" barrel, midnight black magic finish, and smooth walnut grips that is consistent with the majority of 38 special chambered Victory models.  Since this revolver was issued prior to the V serial number it is considered a pre-Victory model.   Below are some details of the Maritime commission from wiki and a few other resources:   From 1939 through the end of World War II, the Maritime Commission funded and administered the largest and most successful merchant shipbuilding effort in world history, producing thousands of ships and other vessels, including Liberty ships, Victory ships, and others, notably Type B barges; Type C1, Type C2, Type C3, and Type C4 freighters; Type R refrigerator ships; T1, T2, and T3 tankers, and Type V tugs. Most of the C2s and C3s were converted to Navy auxiliaries, notably attack cargo ships, attack transports, and escort aircraft carriers and many of the tankers became fleet replenishment oilers. The Commission also was tasked with the construction of many hundred "military type" vessels such as Landing Ship, Tank (LST)s and Tacoma-class frigates (PF)s and large troop transports for the Navy and Army Transportation Corps. By the end of the war, U.S. shipyards working under Maritime Commission contracts had built a total of 5,777 oceangoing merchant and naval ships.   In early 1942 both the training and licensing was transferred to the U.S. Coast Guard for administration, but then late in the fall of 1942, the Maritime Service was transferred to the newly created War Shipping Administration which itself was created for the purpose of overseeing the operation of the fleet of merchant ships being built by the Emergency Program for the needs of the U.S. Armed Services. The WSA was added to the list of wartime agencies created within the Roosevelt Administration and was intended to relieve the already full plate of responsibilities of the Commission, yet they shared the same Chairman in Admiral Land and so worked very closely together.   The Maritime Commission was abolished on 24 May 1950, and its functions were divided between the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission which was responsible for regulating shipping trades and trade routes and the United States Maritime Administration, which was responsible for administering the construction and operating subsidy programs, maintaining NDRF, and operating the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy which had been built and opened during World War II and which continues to be funded and operated today as one of the five Federal Service Academies.  

I agree, 1866 reg. Tily dates the photo as 1870, but no information as to why.

CAN NOT REMEMBER WHERE I HAVE SEEN THIS ONE.   HELP,   Mark

Well glad to know they went to a good home. Cool to see the former 32nd veteran's group president's stuff. Maybe I'll see you out there in the wild sometime. 

Hello, This is a good source for tanker information.   http://www.big-red-one.org/M1938 TANK HELMET INFO PAGE.htm

Gone….the rank insignia  I went to another estate sale earlier…and decided to pass by to see what was left.  I picked up these items

British?

This is the third I have come across over here in the past couple of months by two different sellers, both sellers are insistent that they are real.    To me it looks like somebody has clipped the clutch back pins off and changed it to a pin back.     

Thank you Salvage Sailor. The first link doesn't seem to work though.