Welcome to this week’s eBay roundup for the week starting the 10th of October 2022. In this week’s post I browsed long and hard but sadly only came up with one or two very useful items alongside some interesting collectibles. As always with eBay, it is worth mentioning that each seller is different. So it is worth getting in touch with each seller to get a grip on how they are as a seller. You can start with feedback scores of course, but it also helps to message a seller to see how quickly they respond and how willingly they answer questions.

WW1 USN Embroidered Military Postcards

During all wars, soldiers would sit down and make things. This is often called trench art when it comes to brass shell cases. But often soldiers would make – or have made for them – small embroidered postcards to ship back home to their loved ones.

This example is marked up to the USN (United States Navy) and is in overall very nice condition, especially given its age. The seller describes the item in detail and also mentions that he has written a book on the subject. He explains that this particular design is a rare variation to find, so certainly something worthy of some more research. It is listed by silkcard with a start price of $14 in the UK with worldwide shipping available.

WW2 British Army Axe

This is the first potentially useful item in today’s post. This WW2 era axe appears to be in good condition for its age and would have likely been used by pioneer troops, although could have been used by standard army regiments as well. Sadly the seller doesn’t show great images (only one of the front and back) but he states that there is an army crow’s foot (War department arrow) on it somewhere, indicating it was for military use. It is currently listed with a start price of £5 from the seller littlejohn1863 in the UK.

SAS Signals Beret & Stable Belt

Any SAS items from any period are rare items to find. The SAS (Special Air Service) are a highly collected, highly written about and highly respected regiment of the British army. This seller has an SAS stable belt that would be used with the dress uniform alongside the soldier’s beret. The beret has the signal corps badge on the front, suggesting the soldier was an SAS signaller.

This set is for sale by pollard3004 in the UK with a start price of £225. Current issue items like this are the collectibles of the future.

WW2 British Paratrooper’s String Vest

This is an interesting and increasingly rare piece of SOE equipment. Soldiers that could potentially end up behind enemy lines always needed a plan B. This vest was cunningly designed to appear as simply a vest. However, if required, it could be unstrung to create one single length of rope that could be the difference between life and death in a combat zone. This is the 1st pattern variation. The second pattern had the shoulder boards removed and is an incredibly rare variation to find.

This example is for sale from daniellewis35 in the UK with an auction start price of £45.

WW2 1944 Dated French Franc “Invasion Currency”

Before the invasion of Normandy the Allied command had to come up with a way of soldiers paying the locals for items. As such, the invasion currency was created. These notes were issued to soldiers and civillians to pay for produce in France so the locals were not out of pocket. I recall reading somewhere that Charles de Gaulle was not best pleased with this. In particular the fact that the Allies just assumed it would be fine. This is an interesting logistical subject of D-Day and WW2, as all these minor details had to be thought of in advance.

This 1944-dated 5 Franc note is listed for sale in the USA from the seller nichtr_78 with a list price of $31.80.

British Army Deployment Bag

I picked this item out as I use one myself for camping. It is a big, heavy-duty and in my experience, nearly indestructible bag. Deployment bags are just that; soldiers were offered them for moving their gear around, in and out of combat areas. This seller is selling second-hand used examples, but they appear lightly used and very usable! They are listed at £29.99 from the seller gijoeoutdoors in the UK.

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