1941-dated first model folding entrenching tool with presstoff cover

[Manu Della Valle]

Ok,entrenching tool are not that rare per se but a 1941-dated,"gvh"-stamped Spatentasche(carrier) with flap made of presstoff it's not so easy to come by,being the first type of carrier and rarer than the second model without the flap!The code was allotted in June 1941 to L.Erselius,Leipzig C1,Reichstrasse 16,and this carrier is 1941-dated,hence it must have been one of the first batches produced by this small Company,just in time for Barbarossa perhaps!It's worth noting that the production of this carrier ceased in late 1941/early 1942 and was replaced by the second model without flap but with a steel retaining clipo for the tip of the spade,therefore there must not be many "gvh"-stamped carriers around!
It comes from an old Italian collection and I'm going to put it for sale,but I'm posting a thread and its pictures before parting company with it!I've got a rarer all-leather one left and that'll be enough to go with a mannequin from 1939 to 1945...the others have gone and this one is the last of a glorious breed!
the Klappspaten 38 was introduced in 1938 and was to replace the "flimsy",old short showel which had remained basically unchanged since the end of the XIXth Century.It was made so that it could be used as a showel or at a 90 degree angle.
You've guessed that;the "shorty" that hailed back to the XIXth Century was produced alongside the new,more useful and more expensive and complex entrenching tool well into 1945!
Enjoy
Manu
 

 

Edited September 18, 2016 by Manu Della Valle
WORTH NOTING and NOT worth NOTHING..f ucking Italian autocorrector!

[DAK D]

Hi @Manu Della Valle,

That's a super original example

D

[Manu Della Valle]

Thanks Dermot,
glad you've appreciated it!