Canteens

[gnadenlose]

The postman brought me this lovely untouched baby today. The bottle and cup HRE42, all clips and leather strap HRE43. It looks like put together some day during the war, but never used by soldier. Some minor spots of rust here and there, but all in all untouched piece. The straps are exactly as they were found, I only washed the flask because it was covered with some nasty dirt. Enjoy!


Note the production defect on the side of flask

[Hans Pfeiffe]

Hi!

I hope its ok that I post my question here, otherwise maybe someone could be kind enough to move it to a better location.
I bought this canteen thinking it was a german ww1 canteen. I asked around in the ww1-forum but they thought it could be a HJ, civilian or maybe political canteen.
The reason I think its german is because of the snap caps with the small "star". The aluminum canten is marked 0.50. Does anyone know anything that could help me identify my canteen?

[JonB]

Hi!
I agree with the WW1 forum comments. Yes, it's German, but marked 0,5L is not a Wehrmacht canteen, the smallest of which contained 0,7-0,8L.
If there's no indication of date, it's impossible to know how long after 1918 it was made, although apart from the straps about which I cannot be certain from the photos shown, it looks in my opinion to be before 1945.

If looking for a WW1 canteen, may I suggest your easiest options are either an aluminium or enamelled steel bottle, both of which are still not that difficult to find with dated maker marks, although if you're a collector after a complete example in fine condition I guess you know how much you can expect to have to pay..?

On the other hand if wanting a WW1 canteen for reenactment purposes, a genuine WW1 bottle + cap/cork without cover & straps will be cheaper & easier to find, meaning you just need a replica cover & straps, which if you're no wizard with a needle & thread, I'm sure your reenactment group or one of the several forums with dedicated living history sections can advise.
Good luck finding a better candidate

[gnadenlose]

Today's catch...

[MULON]

A killer ones

[Fritz84]

[pzo]

Good score! My congrats!!! Perfectly matching example.

[Luciusdegeer]

Gentlemen,

I repost my canteens here. It's quiet addictive; some years ago I promised myself not to buy other types, because the variations are endless... But once in a while you'll find another 'minty' or early one, and your collection grows bigger again.
My favourites are the early canteens, because I'm specialised in RW and early (pre-war) WH equipment.

Earliest one is SMM1934, but with later dated cup (1939)

Medical canteen ('Labeflasche') is dated MN 1940


Mid- to late-war canteens with bakelite cup, one with olive-green aluminium cup (dated 1942). The 'coco' is dated 1941, but I bet it never saw the sands of Africa. TeNo marking confirmed.


So para-military organisations got issued with military-grade, non-obsolete equipment too. We all know about re-issue of early gas masks and Reichswehr packs, canteens and messtins to RAD, NSKK, TeNo, DRB etc., but here the TeNo-man got something 'better'...


I like these late-war canteens with steel cups. One with green body, two with red body, one with late-war recycled aluminium (of crashed allied airplanes, I was told...). Should I keep looking for a grey-blue 'Schindler' one?




I hope others can learn from these examples too.

Lucius

[Michael Kuligowski]

lovely examples !!! keep it coming !!!

.. i have one left in my collection....

[gnadenlose]

I just received some nice battle damaged stuff. The cup on the left still has the splinter stuck in it. The one on the right has 3 layers of paint: originally grey, then green and last painted black.

[marcinkappa]

Ok, I found some "old pictures", here are mine two ersatz canteens:

[gnadenlose]

Killers!

[MULON]

I have no words guys......what a lovely canteens are posted

[marcinkappa]

Thanks
Ok, another picture

[Fritz84]

Thanks
Ok, another picture

Great!!!