r/militaria

The logo of the Sturmabteilung is branded into the front, and the baton also has several deep notches. I got it for 60 euros from an antique dealer.

I see this online for $200 and I’m wondering if yall think it’s authentic and if you think $200 is fair? If it’s real I’ll probably offer something like $150. Thanks in advance!

Recently bought some old WWI and WWII gear and found 3 of these. 1 of them is painted blue and has a hole on bottom which I can confidently confirm as inert. However, the other 2 I am not sure if they are live or not. I’ve heard comments about how the Japanese type 97 Grenade should weigh 16 oz when empty and around 18.8oz when filled. I’ve heard the Mk 2 should weigh 19oz when empty and 21 oz when filled. Is this an accurate way to confirm if they are inert? I heard I can call the police non emergency hotline but it means that they get confiscated.. Any info or suggestions would be appreciated.

Hello all!

Recently got a good deal on some WWI helmet shells and thought I’d share them here.

Two of the helmets have markings from Thomas Firth & Sons while one has no stamps but appears to have Spanish written on the inside brim, which is pretty interesting.

I’m also wondering what the story is with the blue paint on the first one. Only time I’ve seen blue Brodie helmets is when worn for RAF service.

Any clue what else it could be?

Cheers! 🍻

Hello everybody!

I recently bought this Soviet cold war era medic bag (dated 1982) but it came with more debris and rust than I expected, so I wanted to do a deep clean. For the rust and corrosion on the metal, I was planning on scrubbing it off with some rust remover, but I'm not too sure how to wash the whole bag itself. I'm fine with the stains and such, as that's part of the bags history, so mainly it's just to clean it of dirt and the strong smell of gasoline since I do want to wear it (of course, after covering the red cross symbol just to be safe).

I was planning to just hand wash it cold with regular detergent, but the only problem is that there are these flat hard sheets in the front and back of the bag to give it structure, and I'm not sure if it is safe to wash, since I don't know what it's made out of. I mean, logically I would hope it would be waterproof, but I just want to double check to be sure.

I've tried researching what this hard part is made out of to no avail, but it is decently flexible while being sturdy at the same time. The only decent video I could find of this model is this youtube link below, but the auto-translated subtitles still didn't really translate what he said the hard part was made out of (it was simply translated as "cardura"). I also do not want to cut open the fabric to find out, for obvious reasons of damaging the bag. As well, unfortunately I am unable to dry clean this bag since no local stores near me are specialized in dry cleaning militaria nor do they accept bags like this for dry cleaning.

Link to here (newer model as you can tell by the buckles and date but otherwise basically identical): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9cG32Ltmh0

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Hello everyone! I need your help solving a little mystery.
26 years ago, someone gave my parents a mirror as a wedding gift. Yesterday, the mirror fell and broke, and hidden behind it, we found this photograph.
We have no idea who this man is. The only clues I have are the ones visible in this photograph.
I would love to find out who this man was, what his role was in the French military, and, most importantly, on what occasion this photograph was taken in Paris in 1917.
I’ve done some research myself, but I’m clearly not much of a detective, so I’m counting on you to help me solve this mystery! 😊

Hello everyone.
I bought two hats today for someone who enjoys military history as a gift. (a huge enjoyer).
But firstly, I would want to know if they are fake and if he would enjoy it.

I did use claude to search both of them, but honestly speaking I don't trust it completly (The first hat, the brown one, i was told is east-german from '56, the other one it gave me poor description without much indentifing.
Your help is really welcomed.

Thanks for the help.

Edit; sorry for the mess in the photos.

I literally just got this in the mail, I bought it pretty much sight unseen from an eBay auction that I won for $75. (The photos were pretty bad) I’m just looking at it and I think it’s British because of the makers mark. I’m kinda confused though because one side of the bales has the British split pin, and the other side has a more American looking circular pin. Is this a rare or something or is this pretty common to find? Also, could this have been refurbed by a collector post war? Thanks!

What was my father in law up to? He served in Vietnam 1969-1970.