Cmonn guys, let's see those eBay gems?

[Lenny]

Good or bad, we want to see those eBay must haves, or must not haves...

[Guest Fred Karno's Army]

My best ever,ever,EVER ! eBay buy would have to be the hat shown below.I had it tailored for myself while in Iraq in 2004.

When I came home late 2005 I didn't want anything to do with the S@@@hole,too much going on in my head,and a guy mithered the living daylights out of me for some souvenirs.So I gave him everything apart from my dog tags,and Camelpack,lock stock the lot,two kit bags full.After getting help and stabilising my life I regretted parting with some personal items back then.

Years later around 2012 I was sat looking on eBay and for some bizarre reason I entered my last name and Iraq into the search tab and loan behold my bloody cap was there on a buy it now for £20 .

• Still to this day I honestly don't know what compelled me to do that search,karma I do believe 

[Bil4338]

...but did you buy it back?

[Guest Fred Karno's Army]

12 minutes ago, Bill said:

...but did you buy it back?

As the advert goes..... 'Oh yes !'   Lol.

It fits my daughter better than me these days 

[Lenny]

That's a fantastic story, amazing...

[Waffenamt]

Well this is one of my favourites that ties in with a moan in the ebay thread elsewhere in the forum.
 I got this mint condition,fully strippable ELAZ Type 17B long delay fuze from ebay. Was very cheap too!

After the sales,the sour grapes brigade starting griping to the seller it was worth a lot of money.

Well after an exchange twixt i and the seller,i explained to him that he got it for next to nowt in a house clearance,i got it for my collection therefore whats the beef?

Im a collector at the end of the day so the cheaper,the better for me.

Again its highly likely an ex BD mans first one he did? All the flash pellets had been proffessionally removed at some point.

The Type 17 B was a later war version. Note the ink stamps identifying marks rather than stamps in the fuze boss like earlier Electrical fuzes.

Its strips further than shown in the pictures,but can upgrade pics when the workshop bench is tidier and the weathers warmer!

 

The first picture is of a variety of Type 17(Hidden at the moment until pictured at a later time),17A's and 17B's. They are sitting in the ZuS40 booby traps(Zinc versions)

 

 

[Waffenamt]

yes,the clockwork still ticks!!

[Jerry B]

5 hours ago, Ham & Jam said:

My best ever,ever,EVER ! eBay buy would have to be the hat shown below.I had it tailored for myself while in Iraq in 2004.

When I came home late 2005 I didn't want anything to do with the S@@@hole,too much going on in my head,and a guy mithered the living daylights out of me for some souvenirs.So I gave him everything apart from my dog tags,and Camelpack,lock stock the lot,two kit bags full.After getting help and stabilising my life I regretted parting with some personal items back then.

Years later around 2012 I was sat looking on eBay and for some bizarre reason I entered my last name and Iraq into the search tab and loan behold my bloody cap was there on a buy it now for £20 .

• Still to this day I honestly don't know what compelled me to do that search,karma I do believe 

Hard to beat this one I think, such a great story and good you got it back

[Waffenamt]

I weren't intending to beat anyone. Just thought i would show and tell as the topic title asked.

[Guest Fred Karno's Army]

29 minutes ago, Waffenamt said:

I weren't intending to beat anyone. Just thought i would show and tell as the topic title asked.

My heart goes out to the first brave buggers that started defusing these things,I am not mechanically or engineering minded in the least and the thought of tinkering with something like that puts chills down my spine .

  Although I can tell you a personal tale of me identifying  and then the subsequently 'defusing ' of an Iraqi 'mine' that was holding up a convoy from crossing the Euphrates in Iraq in 2003  but that's another story lol.

[Jerry B]

2 hours ago, Waffenamt said:

I weren't intending to beat anyone. Just thought i would show and tell as the topic title asked.

Perhaps my choice of words has been taken the wrong way, I was not implying anything competitive was intended by you or me.

[Waffenamt]

Fair play to you Ham,i might see you one day at a show and you can tell me over a brew.

[Waffenamt]

Just now, Jerry B said:

Perhaps my choice of words has been taken the wrong way, I was not implying anything competitive was intended by you or me.

No worries Jerry. 

[Guest Fred Karno's Army]

33 minutes ago, Waffenamt said:

Fair play to you Ham,i might see you one day at a show and you can tell me over a brew.

Well,pull up a chair,pour a drink and pull up a memory or two.

" When I was in the war " lol, we were just about to cross the Euphrates Feb 2003 on a section of engineers built pontoon when the lead vehicle gets waved down by a group of US engineers,with the warning of there's a mine just been spotted in the mud by the ramp.

Now not being brave I asked to see the said mine but was repeatedly told EOD were inbound to clear it and stay well back.Now having almost twelve vehicles pinned up at a choke point visible for miles I was getting slightly hot under the collar,two hours till dusk and still 15 Klicks to go.EOD being 60-80mins out.

 So after quite a heated who's in charge of who argument with the engineers I made the walk to within 10 metres of said 'Mine'.

Having done an albeit impromptu IED course I instantly recognised the offending said 'mine' just angled slightly upwards in the mud.And quickly informed the engineers just how to solve the problem.

Although it wasn't my IED training that proved invaluable,it was more my trawling the fields of Normandy as a child that I could easily make out from said knowledge it was a bloody gas mask filter,covered in s@@t and screw thread upwards did to the untrained eye and being covered in mud resemble in fact an anti personnel mine as you can appreciate !.

  After a few cursed words and red faces and me pulling the damn thing up and explaining what it was,were we on our way in 15 mins,the air was blue.Crisis over,the engineers changed there underwear,EOD were stood down so returned to their bbq and beer,and us,well we rolled in just before dusk,safe sound and in one piece.

[Guest Fred Karno's Army]

42 minutes ago, Jerry B said:

Latest good deal from ebay, I got this for just over one quarter of the price on a dealers site.

What years would that be Jerry if you don't mind me asking ?.

[HetzersGonnaHetz]

19 minutes ago, Ham & Jam said:

Well,pull up a chair,pour a drink and pull up a memory or two.

" When I was in the war " lol, we were just about to cross the Euphrates Feb 2003 on a section of engineers built pontoon when the lead vehicle gets waved down by a group of US engineers,with the warning of there's a mine just been spotted in the mud by the ramp.

Now not being brave I asked to see the said mine but was repeatedly told EOD were inbound to clear it and stay well back.Now having almost twelve vehicles pinned up at a choke point visible for miles I was getting slightly hot under the collar,two hours till dusk and still 15 Klicks to go.EOD being 60-80mins out.

 So after quite a heated who's in charge of who argument with the engineers I made the walk to within 10 metres of said 'Mine'.

Having done an albeit impromptu IED course I instantly recognised the offending said 'mine' just angled slightly upwards in the mud.And quickly informed the engineers just how to solve the problem.

Although it wasn't my IED training that proved invaluable,it was more my trawling the fields of Normandy as a child that I could easily make out from said knowledge it was a bloody gas mask filter,covered in s@@t and screw thread upwards did to the untrained eye and being covered in mud resemble in fact an anti personnel mine as you can appreciate !.

  After a few cursed words and red faces and me pulling the damn thing up and explaining what it was,were we on our way in 15 mins,the air was blue.Crisis over,the engineers changed there underwear,EOD were stood down so returned to their bbq and beer,and us,well we rolled in just before dusk,safe sound and in one piece.

Great story!

[HetzersGonnaHetz]

 

3 minutes ago, Ham & Jam said:

My book will hopefully be finished and in print by the end of this year,I already have a publisher who has accepted the draft.

'Blogs from Babylon '.    I will keep you posted  and bang you a copy in the post .

I would love to increase my knowledge on other eras of war, but I've got a lot of reading to do first. I've got so many books to get through such as SS: Hell on the Western Front and Hitler's Generals. Also, I'll post a pic of the cover of a book a friend of a friend is writing.

 

Cover Pic Below:

[Waffenamt]

Thanks Ham for that write up,enjoyed that!

[Bil4338]

So did I Waff! Typical story which shows the whimsical side of wartime duty...

[Mitter2k1]

Here is my best find on ebay to date, which took place maybe a couple of months ago. I just happened to be searching WWI dog tags when low and behold, there was a really familiar name. The only reason I know this name is I have been researching a list of names from my hometowns and I have pretty much memorized them all over the past 3 years. I went to my list and checked for it and there he was. So I set out to acquire this dog tag. After communicating with the seller for a couple of days, he agreed to sell it as buy it now and I couldn't click it fast enough. I sent in a request for his service record and got it back around the same time the tag came in the mail. Here is a little info on the gentleman

Private Herman Adolph Fuchs, Farmersville

Company L, 28^th Infantry Regiment, 1^st Division, United States Army

Serial Number- 1,994,465

Born November 7, 1893 to Jacob L. and Bertha K. Fuchs

Enlisted- February 23, 1918

Assigned to 19th Company, 5th Training Battalion, 159th Depot Brigade on February 23, 1918

Transferred to Company M, 335th Infantry Regiment, 84th Division on April 10, 1918

Transferred to Company L, 28th Infantry Regiment, 1st Division on October 6, 1918 to Discharge

Fought at Meuse-Argonne from November 5 to November 8, 1918

Discharged- September 25, 1919

Died- January 24, 1963

Buried- Rovey Cemetery in Farmersville, Illinois

 

And here is the tag

-Mike

[Guest Fred Karno's Army]

You were meant to have it .

[Mitter2k1]

3 hours ago, Ham & Jam said:

You were meant to have it .

I like to think so. I have been after local WWI items since I started collecting and this is just the second thing that I have found. There hasn't been one photo, uniform, helmet, or anything else for that matter. Currently it is on display in my war room as one of the two centerpieces of my collection.

Thanks,

Mike 

[Mark K]

1941 C.L./C. Flashed to the Winnipeg Grenadiers....
I was quite pleased to be able to add this 1941 dated C.L./C. to my top shelf gents as Canadian helmets like these very rarely come up for sale in the market place it is sporting a VMC liner in a size 7 1/8 and has a heavy textured finish and has an excellent patina and has that been there done that look I like so much in my helmets it is of course sporting the Winnipeg Grenadiers Regimental flash on the left side of the helmet and has the owners name scratched on the underside of the rim ( CPL,G,PETERSON ).On the rare occasion we are able to tie direct provenance to a piece from are collection to the man or woman it was issued to and or were the piece may have been used I have been honoured to have had the rare opportunity to talk to the actual Veteran that used this particular Mk II .I was fortunate enough to get in contact with the original owner of the helmet Cpl G Peterson through the Hong Kong Veterans of Canada Association whom I might add was 92 years old at the time and sharp as a whip I talked to him on the telephone for approx 45 minutes and had a very interesting conversation with him about his involvement during the battle of Hong Kong. He has confirmed that this Mk II belonged to him and that the writing on the inside was carved there near the rim for him by one of his two friends and very likely a man named Kelso .
Mr Peterson had a few questions for me in return though the first question being how I acquired this helmet as he laid it down on the ground in Hong Kong on December 25 1941 after the order was given to lay down all arms and surrender to the Japanese.
How on Earth did this helmet ever make it home to Canada from Hong Kong as none of the lads returned from the battle all the men involved with the capitulation of the Regiment were made guests of the Empire of Japan and served out the next four years as POW ?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

There is more to this story including his personal war diaries but I shall post it else were in the forum as it is a lengthy read 

Regards Mark

Edited April 8, 2016 by Mark K

[Guest Fred Karno's Army]

That is absolutely fantastic and all that provenance and talking to the original owner bloody hell in total AWE ! 

[Mark K]

Thanks Mate I will post it up in a thread on its own with period images with the vet and his brother as they were prepping to ship out ..Only speculation of course but IMO this helmet was either taken as spoils of war by a soldier or officer of the Japanese 38th Infantry Division and or picked up by a local in Hong Kong to find its way back into the marketplace many years later. At the time of the sale it was in Auction format with no provanance so I contacted the seller and asked what he needed out of the helmet and a price was agreed upon so he ended the sale before a bid was even put on it...

Regards Mark