Canteen identification request

[Collectinsteve]

I was digging through a box and was reminded that I don't know what exactly this canteen is. There are no markings on it as far as I can tell. It looks similar, but not exactly the same, as early BGS canteens. Anybody know what it is?

Thanks!

Steve

[Klaus1989]

What colour is the cup? It looks black.

It looks like some early West German civilian canteens that I have seen, except cup. Could be some hiker or youth organisation (although I think Pfadfinder had normally no cup). It could also be very early DRK or other aid organisation personal canteen (to attach on breadbag), instead of shoulder canteen that are more common seen. But these areas are not well researched.

regards
Klaus

[mambo]

cap looks plastic to me suggesting post war

[Klaus1989]

I think there was no question that canteen was postwar. Construction of it is obvious. What organisation is a bit harder to solve...

regards
Klaus

[Collectinsteve]

Thanks for the thoughts. Yes, the canteen cap is black plastic. Does anybody have a confirmed 1950s BGS canteen to compare against?

I'm sure this was never a shoulder ("medic") style canteen. There's no provisions for a shoulder strap on it.

Steve

[Klaus1989]

I never said it was shoulder canteen. I mentioned that most DRK, etc. canteens are, but they could also use normal style on breadbag.

I have two early BGS canteens in my collection, both slightly different. Your canteen is very different. BGS canteens have alu caps, grey-green cups and black leather. The cup colour and leather quality is different from wartime. Left is dated 1951 and has plain snaps, the right is undated (not unusual) and has Pyrm snaps. Sorry for bad light in photos.





regards
Klaus

[Collectinsteve]

Hi Klaus,

Thanks for the photos! So mine appears to be a similar design, but very different in execution. Which probably means mine is 1950s sometime. Brown leather to me says it is not BW or BGS or Polizei. Perhaps early ZB/THW or something like that?

BTW, I just found a BGS 1954 dated mess kit strap. It looks to be the same style of leather, stitching, and buckle as the one on your canteen (though obviously it isn't a canteen strap). Now all I have to do is find a 1954 era messkit to go along with it For now it's on the nice 1972 messkit I got from you last year.

Cheers,

Steve

[Klaus1989]

Here is 1960 Pfadfinder canteen on ebay.de. Note some similarities like brown leather, rivets and strap around neck of bottle. It appears to miss cup. I think some nature club or civil organisation is likely, but not ZB or THW. The plastic cap seem cheap and most government canteens had alu ones. I think DRK use black leather, so probably not DRK either.



http://cgi.ebay.de/Feldflasche-Gut-P...item4aa0cf5e3c

regards
Klaus

[Collectinsteve]

Makes sense to me! One thing that threw me a bit was the belt clip. That's a fairly typical BW/BGS/Pol/etc. type clip. Cheaper and less strong types, like the one on the Pfadfinder canteen you just pictured, are usually an indication of non-goverment type equipment.

I have no idea why they wasted the leather and expense of putting the strap around the neck of the canteen. That seems completely unnecessary.

Steve

[uscob]

It's for sure a civy one. I used the same in the Boy Scouts before I got the GI Canteen with Cup and Cup Stand for heating.
They normally came with a plastic, Africa Corps Style, Cup but maybe sombody replaced it with a Police Cup. Was common to do so as you can heat up drinks in it like tea or soup. Not possible with the Plastic one.
Nico