Seldom seen (at least by me) Bandoleer

[Eric Queen]

I would be interested in hearing others experience on this, but I have always found this particular bandoleer ( sometimes referred to as "splotch" ) to be quite rare. In my experience, I have seen very few for sale. I think they are harder to find, than even the angular flap blue bandoleer. I am curious as to what others think on this. Does this fall in above or below the angular blue in terms of rarity. For discussion sake, this is how I would rank them. ( 1 being the rarest )

1. FG 42 (splinter / water )
2. FIK ( olive green )
3. Double Snap ( olive green / blue )
4. Splotch
5. Blue ( angular flap )
6. Splinter
7. Blue ( round flap )
8. Tan

[Gerd W.]

Hello!

Saw an (IMO) original splinter and this late war one in the last 2 weeks for sale in open auctions, nothing from the rest.

I´m just a newbee in para equipment parts, so I´m not able to mention which one is the rarest on your list.

But I know very well, that I had too late my hands on the special bandoleer in your pic! This one was for sale on US eBay yesterday

[grovb]

Can you show a picture of a angular flap blue bandoleer. please

Brandyn Grove

I would be interested in hearing others experience on this, but I have always found this particular bandoleer ( sometimes referred to as "splotch" ) to be quite rare. In my experience, I have seen very few for sale. I think they are harder to find, than even the angular flap blue bandoleer. I am curious as to what others think on this. Does this fall in above or below the angular blue in terms of rarity. For discussion sake, this is how I would rank them. ( 1 being the rarest )

1. FG 42 (splinter / water )
2. FIK ( olive green )
3. Double Snap ( olive green / blue )
4. Splotch
5. Blue ( angular flap )
6. Splinter
7. Blue ( round flap )
8. Tan

[Frank Schneider]

Eric,

I think the "splotch" and the "angular" ones are both equal rare. But if I have to choose, I would say the splotch one is more rare. Never seen one of those 'in the flesh', but saw the angular one.
Allthough my tan bandoleer has 3 or 4 different shades of fabric, I would not call it a "splotch"........

Frank.

[Chris]

Interesting thread, Eric. You know my views on these from the Soldat book I'm sure. I call these "scrap" bandoleers rather than "splotch" because I think they're made from scrap material pieces too small to be of use anywhere else. I don't think the camouflage effect was intentional. I have bandos 3-8, but have only ever seen one original example each of 1 and 2 in my life. I would agree with the rank order, but with the footnote that there's an order of magnitude jump in rarity between 3 and 4. I think there are no more than five original examples each out there of 1, 2 and 3. For numbers 4-8, however, I think there are at least 50 of each, and with some of them, many many more than that. A second footnote to any discussion of bandoleers in my opinion is that we know most of what we know from that huge cache that was found in the late 60's or early 70's in Belgium, I think, which were sold for $2 each in men's magazines for years and years ("3 for $5"). All of these were never issued, and my understanding is that there were examples of each of 4 through 8 in that cache, in differing numbers. I believe bandoleers that are actually field worn are quite rare. So the rarity scale below 3 (ie, 4-8) is based, in my opinion, to a large extent on the distribution in that cache, rather than distribution in the field.

[Eric Queen]

Chris,

I would certainly agree in terms of the tremendous gap between numbers 3 and 4. This particular bandoleer ( #4 ) is scarce, but certainly possible to find with a bit of effort, and the right amount of cash. # 3 on the other hand, I believe is all but impossible. Cannot be but 5 or so of these in the world.

As to whether the camo effect was intentional or not, I just cannot say. A guess either way, would be just that. A guess.

Eric

[John Hodgin]

Hi Eric,

I don't consider these that rare. I've had four of five of them and only kept one, my favorite, that has a very heavy neck strap. I rate the angular flapped far harder to find.

Best,
John

[Eric Queen]

Hey John,

I guess to a degree its a matter of perception, based on everyones own experience. I have seen 5 of the angular ones to every 1 of these.

Eric

[Maus]

Could anyone tell me if the pics on this thread are still awailable? I cant look at them ? THanks.