Militaria for sale

Lenny Warren trawls the internet to find bargains, rare, interesting or bizarre items of militaria

Lenny Warren takes a trip around the internet in search of rare, interesting and desirable collectables.

As I write this, a vaccine for Covid-19 is starting to be distributed, so I thought it was time to have a look around some medical related items of militaria. U-534 is one of only four WWII German submarines in preserved condition remaining in the world. Sunk east of Anholt Island, Denmark, on 5 May 1945, U-534 was recovered in 1993 and is now on display in Liverpool. A variety of relics were recovered from the wreck, some are even available for sale. Here we have a moulded amber coloured glass screw neck medicine bottle. It emits a pungent aroma, the cork stopper being loose inside. Showing staining and with silt residue, but no cracks or damage. Some sticky residue on one side and what is possibly the remains of a label on the other. Priced at £14 from www. alligatormilitariaandcollectables.com.

The British Women’s Transport Service has been in continuous existence since 1909 and its members were the first women, other than nurses, to serve with the British Army. It was originally called the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry and is still better known by the initials F.A.N.Y. The first FANYs were recruited to do various forms of medical transport work and were also prepared to follow the Army on horseback to render first aid to the wounded. In World War I, they were one of the first women’s organisations to go overseas. Those who were with them in World War II served with distinction in all theatres of combat and lived up to their motto ‘I Cope’.

Here we have a collection of uniform items issued to FANY ‘E.J. Webber W/60454’. Consisting of her khaki service tunic with four pockets, bronze ‘FANY’ buttons and collar badges, service cap, khaki service skirt, brown leather Sam Browne-type belt with brass buckle and stud fastener, battle dress blouson tunic with ‘Womens Transport Service FANY’ embroidered shoulder patches, khaki service beret with FANY brass cap badge on a field of red cloth. A nice collection of items that offer research potential. Priced at £975 from www.jcmilitaria.com.

During the Third Reich the Deutsches Rotes Kreuz (DRK or German Red Cross) was largely a volunteer organisation under control of the Reichs Ministry of the Interior. The lower ranks were unpaid volunteers, but the leaders of the organisation were full-time paid and uniformed employees.

The Deutsches Rotes Kreuz hewer was designed as an attractive but useful tool intended to help

Red Cross personnel in the performance of their duties in the field and one that, unlike a pointed dagger, could not be viewed as a weapon because the International Red Cross prohibited the issue of weapons to those working under its supervision.

Here we have a very nice condition hewer, clean blade marked ‘Ges. Gesch’. With a maker marked frog, ‘Paul Klopfer Berlin 1938’. Priced at €895 from www.militariaplaza.nl