Could you please help me date this Inland liner and share your thoughts/ estimates on completing it:   - Approximate date? - Is this an "early" Inland liner? - How difficult would it be to find the parts necessary to complete it to its original, period authentic configuration? - What would be the estimated cost of those parts?  I guess I'd be looking for the leather and web chin (no leather cup) straps. the sweat band, and the nape strap.... - What regular M1 shell would go best with it an "S" or an "M"?   And would you recommend completing it or just leaving it as is?   Thank You! Al 

Is this Costa?

Not really a threat to the hobby at all. These items have always been around. Knowledge of clothing styles and construction of the surrounding eras used to be pretty much part of WWII collecting. From the dye staining, stitching style, patch quality, construction methods, jacket style, zipper age, leather repairs, on and on. This was an easy one. We have seen the knowledge base narrow considerably in the past few years - Instagram, FB, this forum, etc. Newer collectors want quick and simple answers. Nuance is sometimes... almost... offensive. In a world of excessive, free information, the actual truth is becoming difficult for many to see. New info is not always best info. If one learns through context, simple comparative analysis, and even classic written data, 99% of the silliness and guessing is taken care of. As some might say. "Read a book!" Lol. JMO as usual, Dave

I think the writing may be German for “More Light” (MEHR LICHT); for what that’s worth.

Manayunkman, apparently you care enough to keep up with this thread as have many of us. Personally, I care because I cannot tolerate fake information - intentional or out of ignorance. Nowadays, as we have seen here, it actually directly skews AI generated info. This, in turn, can mislead others who find such information without this thread. It does matter. I will gladly apologize to the OP but we all know what he has. I seriously doubt we will ever hear from him again but we've seen this before - maybe he'll quote the unique, excellent condition and authenticity of the item based on whatever organization he claimed to have sent it to says; sidestepping the silly claims he made in the post.  Anyone who sees buttonholes and pen pockets and believes them to be telemetry features, that actually existed on other garments, of needs this dose of reality. I'm just following up, Dave 

Stumbled on this the other day at my local pawn shop. I think it’s been re-finished (the Colt logo is really light on the left side of the receiver), but I’m in love with it!! I’d say it matches with my Mills holsters pretty well!!

. Hi Salvage,   yes you have brought vivid memories back for me, not that I was ever a paid mechanic, just a ' Sunday Grease-Monkey ', however yes the smell of pumice paste.   I replaced that with normal dish-washing liquid and the sugar from those small sachets they give you with a cafe' coffee, all so much nicer smelling and the sugar would dissolve as it was being used.  It the only use I have made of sugar, I gave sugar up in the mid / late 70's when we nicknamed it ' White-Death '.  I still have a jar of the sachets at hand near the sink for dirty hand washing, the jar is actually a US Army Medical Department specimen container.       Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent,  11 June  2O26.   ..

On the Subject of Actual Buttons   I did not cite "several hundred buttons surviving," but referred to " perhaps over a hundred buttons that were prescribed by this order, were produced during the 1820s, and were worn by Navy officers, a good number of them with numbers (No. 1 thru No.5) consistently stamped on the backs."   I was talking about the different "types" or "examples" of known, distinct buttons that could be listed under the rubric of 1820s buttons relating to the General Order of June 10, 1820.  There are perhaps over 50 examples or types that had numbers on them, some of them post-1830 under the Regulations of 1830.  I cannot know the exact number that were produced.  As for "buttons surviving," there must be thousands of US Navy buttons out there, in various conditions, all as a result of the June 10, 1820 General Order.  This is a "spitball number," but it comes from my experience with real buttons.  Imagine how many buttons Leigh and Bazelon must have held in their hands over the years!   I am a Navy button collector because I love the buttons.  My interest in regulations and other historical documents is secondary, though interesting in terms of background information.  Real buttons will lead one to the undeniable existence and reality of their being, while words, or their absence, will generally lead to rabbit holes.  For years, I puzzled over the meaning of these backmark numbers on some of my old US Navy buttons and what they might have meant.  I did notice their consistency relating to the front devices.  And then I got a copy of Tily's book and discovered the General Order of 1820.  "The numbered buttons!"  It made sense after that.  But there was still work to do.  Still is...   I can only suggest, if one wants to understand military buttons of a certain category and period, to start collecting buttons, or information on them.  Buttons can be expensive.  If you wanted to buy the Lewis & Tomes numbered series of Navy buttons (No. 1 thru No.5) in decent condition, a full set could easily cost you over $1,000!  The lion's share of this cost would be the MC4 No.5 button, alone, if you were ever lucky enough to see one for sale.  It's a rare button.  But there is always the "thrill of the hunt," and great buttons can be found anywhere in the oddest of places, and for a reasonable price, or "small sum," as Luis Fenollosa Emilio liked to say in his book.  A lot depends on personal finances and how much one chooses to devote to this hobby.   Another possibility is Ebay.  There are at least two regular sellers who sell a wide variety of military buttons, including US Navy, in their "Ebay Store" who are very knowledgeable and who curate their offerings.  They also provide sharp photographs, front and back, of their buttons.  Ebay is easy to search.  You can even search how much they sell for.  Nothing stops you from downloading these images or taking photos of these images if you want them for your personal research, even though it violates the strict rule of "copying" off the internet.  There are also Civil War websites that sell pre-CW Navy buttons.  They, too, provide great images, front and back.  With enough good images, or actual buttons, it is easier to see patterns and similarities in the buttons that were once for sale in the naval tailor shops and lace shops of the Eastern Seaboard Navy ports in the 1820s and 1830s.  The images are out there, as are the buttons.  And, of course, there are the backmark lists in McGuinn & Bazelon, Tice, Albert, Johnson, Emilio, etc., that work best when you have real buttons, or their images, in front of you.  And there must be military relic shows in your neck of the woods.  "No price for looking," as they say in Egyptian bazaars.  Have no regrets about trying to figure this out or for writing about it.  It's arcane.  And it's research, after all.  

Nice find!

"TOP DEAD CENTER"   With these condenser, points and carburetor posts you're giving me flashbacks to my mid century auto mechanic days   Scraped knuckles and hands smelling of pumice & lanolin, fingernails always chipped and dirty with grease...