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Latest Mills plug

gothica7

gothica7

Well-Known Member
Hi all,

got this over the Bank Holiday weekend. Its a rare dug aluminium base plug for a No5 Mills gren that has survived 90 odd years in the ground. Hade by Hinks of Birmingham and dated 11/15.
It was fairly grotty when first received so gave it a good wash first. It had a lot of gren and crud on the rim all of which i managed to remove with careful scraping and brushing and finished it with several coatings of vaseline, well rubbed in. Looks great, screws into a grenade body easily and looks the part. This one i shall be keeping.

Andy
 

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Nice one Andy. Hinks plugs are pretty rare and I think the brass ones are rarer than the aluminium exemples for some reason. - John
 
Here are a few more No 5 plugs that came with the ally plug.

All are either 08 or 09 1915. All will be kept for my collection.

Andy
 

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gothica7 said:
Here are a few more No 5 plugs that came with the ally plug.

All are either 08 or 09 1915. All will be kept for my collection.

Andy
Click to expand...

Andy,
Nice bit of history in those plugs. You might like to see the attached. It is the earliest that I have seen but given that contracts were first issued in March 1915 there should at least be April 1915 ones out there.
 

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Hi Norman,

oh hell, you shouldnt have shown me that, cos i want it badly. It is my dream to find an April or May Base plug. One day, you never know.
Tell me, i suspect that all the early plugs would have all been made by Mills or Mills Munitions? What would the earliest date that the other companies engaged in producing such items. July, August 1915?
I suppose another question would be what was the next earliest date you have seen and from what was the plug made?

Andy
 
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Mills Base Plugs

gothica7 said:
Hi Norman,

oh hell, you shouldnt have shown me that, cos i want it badly. It is my dream to find an April or May Base plug. One day, you never know.
Tell me, i suspect that all the early plugs would have all been made by Mills or Mills Munitions? What would the earliest date that the other companies engaged in producing such items. July, August 1915?
I suppose another question would be what was the next earliest date you have seen and from what was the plug made?

Andy
Click to expand...
W Mills Ltd got the first contract (94/G/66) on 27 April 1915 (but remember Mills had sent two types of Mills grenade to France in March - samples almost). The next contract issued on 13 May 1915 was to Mills Munitions (note change), Wilders, and the Birmingham Engineering Co. Quite a lot of firms followed in June (all the usual names). So you should see dates appearing pretty soon afterwards, I have seen a June stamped plug from Mills and maybe others I cannot remember just now. By August a flow has started so plugs marked 8/15 onwards should be 'relatively common'. Mills complained that he spent rather more time at other contractors' premises helping them rather than attending to his own business. I did put the actual figures in Lander's book but Mills only made about 4 million of the 75 million made in WW1.
 
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heres the earliest one i have 10/15.
its unusual as it has 4 little lugs on the rim.
paul.
 

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Nice castellated plug Paul,

i want one. Did have a magic one in my posession a while back but as it wasnt mine and i was selling it and the gren that it was on for a mate it had to go as i wasnt allowed to split it. Not common ime sure.

Andy
 
Early Mills Plug

Norman,
A later one of the same contract from which your May plug emanated... probably. Just the three patent numbers, unlike the following Mills Patent plugs (from September 1915) which had four patents listed.

Snufkin.
 

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Snufkin said:
Norman,
A later one of the same contract from which your May plug emanated... probably. Just the three patent numbers, unlike the following Mills Patent plugs (from September 1915) which had four patents listed.

Snufkin.
Click to expand...

Very nice too. Have you seen four Patents marked on the aluminium plugs rather than the stamped brass variety?
 
May 1915 plug - Gasp! earliest I've ever seen is July. Crown jewels there Mr B.

John
 
Early Mills Plug

Bonnex said:
Very nice too. Have you seen four Patents marked on the aluminium plugs rather than the stamped brass variety?
Click to expand...

I have only seen three solid aluminium plugs with the three patents marked - specifically your May 1915 plug, my July 1915 and a third-party August 1915 plug. I have one of the rather commonplace brass cup type plugs, dated September 1915, with the four patents, and thereafter there are four of course. Statistically we are not talking large samples, so there could be solid aluminium plugs post-August 1915 with four patents marked. Interestingly, though the evidence suggests solid aluminium plugs were much less prevalent from the end of 1915, I have a Vickery's Patents solid aluminium plug dated August 1916.

T
 
Here are 3 more aluminium plugs. The one on the left is a solid one made by May & Padmore. I can see a 16 but not a month. Of the others, one shows either MCC or MOO for Moorwoods with a 16 on the rim. The other shows a faint 10/16 but havnt deciphered the maker yet.

Andy
 

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I've just checked my few aluminium plugs and they are as follows:

H&TV 9/15
H&TV 11/15
Moorwoods 12/15
C&H Ltd 12/15

All my other 1915 plugs (about 15) are brass.

John
 
Andy

My Moorwoods aluminium plug is of the two hole type. Maybe your example is not Moorwoods?

John
 
Very nice! :tinysmile_fatgrin_t
I love all the base plugs you guys have posted!

Mills base plugs have to be one of those little collectibles that bring BIG excitement!
...so many variations an makers
Over here (Canada), No 5 base plugs aren't that common. When I do find one, it's next to impossible to pass it up... it's a true addiction!

Thanks for posting all the photos.

Cheers,
Brad

P.S.
Please keep me in mind if you have any spares or doubles that you may consider trading (or selling).
 
b. plugs

Some years ago I had bought a mini collection of 20 different NO5 base plugs all different. Paid 60.00us for collection but they all left when I cleaned house about a year ago. I can't remember any of them as I was not too plugged in at that time (sprinkled around trench). There was a mixture of alloy and brass ones and wish I still had. Oh well!! Dano
 
Millsman said:
Andy

My Moorwoods aluminium plug is of the two hole type. Maybe your example is not Moorwoods?

John
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Hi John,

I have actually seen this WCC on the rim of another plug before. So perhaps it is an unusual maker. It seems too much of a coincidence to have so similar corrosion on 2 different plugs. One of those things we will probably never find out about.

Andy
 
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