Theodor

Congratulations, Kavin, these are nice ones! And great rumor, Gerd, mine is also BBQ

Thanks Tony!

Hi guys, got this canvas pouch, I guess it is for tent pegs, but may be wrong. Had some leather straps on it, which by unknown rason are removed and put inside it. Made by Gottschalk & Co A.G. Cassel 1914. It has length 40 cm. So, is it tent pegs, or something else?

Thanks! Too bad the bonocular is missing - but still a good piece for the WW1 shelves

so, what means that?

Turskish emblem

Hi guys, got this binocular case, I believe it is WW1, isn't it? Can someone read the Turkish letter inside, by chance do they say "Zeiss"? /I know, I know... not exactly an award But hoping to find here someone reading Turkish... And the last word in the title must be Case, not Text /

I saw that auction, in my opinion it is an original order, but the hole was drilled wider not long ago, either to add a new ring, or to use as a pendant. But who knows, with all those fakes around, may be a completely new worked piece.

And again, thank you very much!

Great information, thank you very much!! Something more on the identification theme - can you please tell me, from what unit is that officer?

1942 made, by a Bulgarian artist. Sent in the same year from a Brannik field camp.

Hi guys, I thought this is the correct part of the forum. The Bulgarian Brannik organization is a tough theme to collect, postwar most of the items were destroyed by the owners, fearing persecution. From time to time the uniform knives can be found, but not oftenly. So, here is all I have now from them so far - a photo, a scabbard and a propagand postcard. Also have a button somewhere, but could not find it now. And what do you have? I know it is not usual ti find things related to Brannik, but will be glad to see if you have something.

detail

Hi guys, just got this beauty Imperial Russia officer aglets, made from metal threads, decorated wit hthe Russian eagle and the cypher of Nikolai II. For what rank are these aglets? Does the color, shape or decoration point to a specific unit? There is flaming bomb decoration, does it mean artillery or some other branch of the army? Thanks in advance for ideas!

Thank you very much for the effort, Dan! So far it is a mistery, noone has seen it. It is definitey a kind of pump, on the bottom it has a hole - there is no screw, it is like a small funnel, as if to be pushed on something cone-shaped. What makes the mistery is the oil tank. Not only the cap for pouring the oil, but the knob fur tuning on/off ??? I opened the pump, I see no connection between the pump cylinder and the oil tank - but of course there may be a hole on the wall of the cylinder near the bottom, which I can not see. So, I think it is not a bike/motorbike pump, these must have been pretty common - and this is not common. It is rather some special, not widely used tool, only used as you say for some kind of gun or equipment.The search goes on! Outside it is good, but inside very rusty, the turning knob is "frozen". I'll spray some WD40 in the oil tank, so hopefully the mechansm will work again - and it may tell more about the use of that pump.

and last one

another

Hi guys, can you please help me, what is this thing? It is a kind of pump, at one side has a cap for pouring oil, on the othr side has a switch on knob. So, is it an air pump, or an oil pump? It is marked WaA 37 and dpq42H.

Thank you for your comments! Cam, It used huge 15,24 mm ammo /Russian 6 lines, or 0.60 cal./ The breech opens to the left, the fire rate is poor at 9 - 10 shots per minute. The extracting system was not good. The Ottoman army had much better weapons - the American-made Peabody-Martini /the same like the British Martini-Henry/ and Winchester. Dan, sure I will, though have no idea whan will start rebuilding. A guy has the wood for the cavallery one, but still has no will to sell it. The other one needs also lots of work. Dan /the other Dan/, that's a really bad story, any chances to get the pieces back??

As said, unfortunately these more often appear in other condition. Here you see what I mean: the upper one is an infantry Krnka, all matching numbers, with firing mechanism made in Belgium /yes some of the guns converted were foreign make/. But the worms ate the buttstock and some cowboy cut the barrel! The lower is barrel of the very rare Cossack cavallery Krnka - sadly the bronze receiver is badly smashed, fortunately it is exactly the same like any other so replacement can be found. Someday when have enough free time and gather spares, both will be restored.

last - maekred on the firing mechanism 1858, the Tula weapons factory /as said, that's the original mechanism, which was kept after the conversion, just with modified hitting hammer/.

more

and another

more details

Hi guys, this is my Krnka. In other words, this is the main weapon of the Imperial Russian army in the 1877/78 war with the Turkish empire. Curiously, this is a conversion from a front-filling capsule gun to single shot bullet gun. After the Crimea war, Russia faced the need to get a new gun, suitable for modern warfare. After searching the best way, the idea of the Czech weapons specialist Sebastian Krnka was chosen - well, maybe not the best way, but at least the cheapest and the most useful. The Russian army had a big stock of the old front-filling /front loading/ capsule guns. According to Krnka's method, the back side of the barrel was cut and a brass receiver screwed on the end. This the old weapons became single-shot bullet guns. The spring mechanism was untouched, just the hammer was modified, extended towards the central firing pin, in order to hit it. The conversion wa made from 1867 to the early 1870's, more than 500 000 pieces were finished. So, this is mine. Not perfectly preserved, but the silver birch barely survives time and bad storage, so this one is actually quite good preserved. Yes the hammer is broken, but I have a spare. Will have to find the front ring, that holds the barrel and the wood together - no big deal.