Posted 4 years ago
fortapache
(3293 items)
Because you can never have too many Boy Scout canteens. Bought this last one in Long Beach along with the signal flags from last week.
This is my oldest canteen and as it has 1945 on the back and looks like a US Army canteen from WWII I am thinking it is from 1945. There were two types of US canteens in WWII and this is one of them. Note the canteen itself does not have the BSA markings on it although the cover does. The markings on the cover and both of the snaps. Later pieces would have BSA markings on because it had to be known it was official Boy Scouts of America equipment but I am thinking after WWII there was a lot of surplus so use it.
Last photo are the canteens from 1945. Earliest on the top left going to latest on the bottom right. Note the cap remains the same for the last four canteens.
Amazing, I bet it's rare. Didn't know the Scouts ever used the M 1910 canteen. It makes sense they would use surplus canteens. Metal was rationed during the WWII and it took a while for civilian production to aquire metal at the end of the war. You could buy those military canteens cheap in the Army Surplus stores in the '50s-'60s.
Thank you very much Toyrebel. There are only 1 or 2 for sale on ebay so it isn't common.
And thank you very much Thomas.