Lost & Found

I always remember when i was about 8 or so, and visiting a car boot sale as i often did with my dad, I once came home with a pencil made out of a bullet. I knew nothing about it, i just thought it was a novelty item probably sold at a museum somewhere.....

.....Roll on two decades and know as a collector of first war ordnance i remember that bullet pencil and wish i knew what the hell i'd done with it as it was no longer in my collection of SAA etc, and was of course more than likely a bullet pencil from the Princess Mary Christmas tin!!

I've been kicking myself as i had presumed I must have sold it or that it was inside something i'd sold many moons ago.... BUT....

My parents have been clearing out and re-insulating their loft and they came across a carrier bag with some old 80's 5.56mm inert blanks and some regimental badges etc that i must have put up there and handed them back to me. My jaw hit the floor when i looked through the bits and pieces and found the pencil !! :tinysmile_fatgrin_t

It's made my weekend!!

Now i just need the cigarettes, the tobacco, the pipe, cards, photo etc...

Nice one Ben!!!

I'm sure you will keep this one safe from now on, and must bring back some happy memories.

I bet you were grinning from ear to ear when you opened that carrier bag!!

regards Kev

Pencil

...and interestingly, it has been made from a New Zealand round, manufactured by the Colonial Ammunition Co.

I lent one of these to my ex to put in a WWI display in her classroom and it was nicked on parents' evening!

Regards
TonyE

Very nice "discovery" after all those years. I have had things disappear and unfortunately never surface again. Glad to see others have better luck. I have one of the Queen's boxes in my collection. It has the card, the cigarettes, and the small writing pad in it. I did not know what the pen looked like. Thanks for showing it. I doubt I will see one here in the US though. Like Tony, I am surprised to see it is a New Zealand case.

Hi Ben nice to find something after so long ,while on the subject does anyone know how these cases for the pencil were picked?attached a couple of pics of a pencil i have stamped KN 11 [Kings Norton] ,overstamped with 2 WD arrows and VII.Also a pic of my tins contents got the label but the tobaco is long gone ,regards Dave

I have a Princess Mary tin (empty). I got it about 15 years ago and thought it was one of the coolest things of the First World War. Never really went after the contents as the tin makes a fine display piece in itself....Dano

butterfly said:

Nice one Ben!!!

I bet you were grinning from ear to ear when you opened that carrier bag!!

regards Kev

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I certainly was

thanks for the info Tony, that is interesting. I guess they just trawled all the ranges around the country gathering up any spent .303 cartridges they could find.

That's a nice little set you have Dave thanks for showing it

EODGUY said:

Very nice "discovery" after all those years. I have had things disappear and unfortunately never surface again. Glad to see others have better luck. I have one of the Queen's boxes in my collection. It has the card, the cigarettes, and the small writing pad in it. I did not know what the pen looked like. Thanks for showing it. I doubt I will see one here in the US though. Like Tony, I am surprised to see it is a New Zealand case.

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I thought these boxes were initially issued with "chocolates" like the Boer War ones???

The one I picked up when I was "eight" had the 3 x WW1 service medals inside - brought them from a little old lady for .50c (that was two week's pocket money back then). The medals belonged to her brother and she was thinking of "throwing them out".....she was delighted that I had an interest in them - the brother served in the Australia Service Corp (ASC).
(Looking back, I still feel bad even this day only giving her .50c! - it was all I had at the time [ I had stingy parents!] we all love bargains but..........)
Drew

TonyE said:

I lent one of these to my ex to put in a WWI display in her classroom and it was nicked on parents' evening!

Regards
TonyE

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I think it was an over-reaction to have divorced her over it!:tinysmile_kiss_t:

One for sale here
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/WW1-Mary-Tin-.../180547558857?pt=UK_Collectables_Militaria_LE

I lost a beautiful U.S. MKII body somewhere during my move, but have never found it..Blues...Dano

?

303Gunner said:

I think it was an over-reaction to have divorced her over it!:tinysmile_kiss_t:

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You don't know the half of it!

Regards
TonyE