HJ Marked Messkit with WaAmt? What gives?

[Colorado]

I picked this messkit up at a flea market in Germany a few years back. The top and bottom, have the owner's name scratched in (normal). There is a 1939 dated strap around it (normal). There is neat HJ art on top.

The latch has the initials "HJ 1934" stamped on it. It also has a WaAmt eagle stamp.

You think someone did that to make it "valuable", but I think I paid about $15 for the messkit. Thoughts?

[Colorado]

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[Colorado]

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[CWP]

Usually the top part of the mess tin has a metal loop above the latch to hold the strap. This is the case with wartime tins, but I am not sure if these prewar tall mess tins had the loop or not. However, I do know that postwar tall mess tins have no loop! Is there any marking on the bottom part of the mess tin where the handles are attached? If not, I would speculate that it is a postwar mess tin altogether. The stamps and probably the art on top are bogus IMO.

Chris P.

[Colorado]

Thanks for the opinion, I was beginning to wonder if anyone would write!

I know wartime messkits pretty well. This style, I am not that familiar with, but it is not any post war style I have ever seen. This is commonly used for the Reichswehr as far as I know. I have had a separate email that this messkit was perhaps early Wehrmacht issue and the HJ marks were put on at some point later. Spurious maybe.....but I sure did not pay for it given it came with a perfectly good strap that matches. The WaAmt does not appear spurious.

I am not how one can determine if scratching is post-war or not not. The only other markings are the name on top and bottom.

[CWP]

It could be a prewar mess tin with fake markings. I can't believe that the WaAmt marking could be real, especially since it is the wartime WaAmt mark and not the prewar type without the swastika, which is what I would expect to see on any early item (though I would not expect to see a mess tin with either of these markings, in any case). Though not to worry, just the strap is worth the price you paid, as you know.

Chris P.

[phosphateb]

It could be a prewar mess tin with fake markings. I can't believe that the WaAmt marking could be real, especially since it is the wartime WaAmt mark and not the prewar type without the swastika, which is what I would expect to see on any early item (though I would not expect to see a mess tin with either of these markings, in any case). Though not to worry, just the strap is worth the price you paid, as you know.

Chris P.

Chris this is the same marking found on that STEYR 8mm ammunition? Wonder if the 1934 is a date or another number? I do remember seeing in the DWJ a few years ago a WaAmt stamp for sale.

[CWP]

The Steyr ammo has a marking that includes the swastika I believe. That marking is not technically a Waffenamt stamp, the Waffenamt stamp includes the letters WaA and a number (as seen above) to identify which Waffenamt literally "weapon office") had proofed the item. The prewar Waffenamt stamps can be found on rifles, leather gear, all the same items you see the wartime marks on.

Chris P.