Why collect Ordnance?

[paul the grenade]

Im often asked "why i collect grenades"
Well it all started in 1980. See the attached newspaper clipping.
After this incedent i spotted a mills grenade in a local antique shop and thought "i better have it as a momento of the occasion".:tinysmile_grin_t:
And another time i spotted another and thought "Oh yes!" :tinysmile_grin_t:i better have that one as its better that the first. And then i saw another and another and another and another and so on.
Anyone else got a similar story?
Cheers, Paul.

 

[LCplCombat]

I collect boxes and packaging first and stuff that goes into them second. I do WW2 reenactment and I am building a display to show what RAOC did during the war. A because most people don't know what RAOC was or did and B because I am ex RAOC.

I originally had the idea of setting up a stores display with a tent, shelves and lots of boxes. I am still working on this one. The ammunition display evolved when I drove past a local scrap merchant and I saw that he had pallets of ammo boxes for sale and I found out they were for sale at 3 each. I started with one each of the four types that he had, some containing packaging. I slowly learned what the stampings on the lid meant and through a WW2 reenactor who sells repro documents I obtained a booklet that had all the details you would need to ID boxes and their contents. Using this source as a starting place I have started a sub forum in Consolidated List Of Containers to which I was made Moderator. Hopefully I can list all the boxes and containers that were used during WW2 and populate the threads with pictures and data as this is my main interest but I hope to include as many more British stuff as I can.

I only have a few ordnance items to go in the containers but as the box collection expands I hope to be able to add the conetents to them to show what they looked like to the troops that used them during the war.

 

[gijunkman]

I had many influences, the stories from my dad, granddads and uncles's times in the service. Gifts of old equipment. (canteens and such) Dad's M1 rifle in his gunrack. (I asked a lot of questions about it) C.B. Colby's books about the Springfield Armory and aircraft, missles, tanks, and such. My favorite magazines in the early 1980's were SOF and Combat Arms. Anyway it's much more interesting than watching sports on t.v.

 

[ordnance]

I'm pretty sure I know how my interest started.

When I was young, both of my parents and all of the neighbors were WWII veterans. I heard lots of stories and had some souvenirs to play with, mainly German medals and badges. There was also a Walther PPK that I didn't get to play with, but got to look at regularly, that my mother brought back from Europe after the war. I still have that pistol, by the way, as well as a patch blanket she put together. She was an American Red Cross Clubmobile driver who often traded donuts and coffee for patches and trinkets.

My interest in grenades and explosive ordnance came from the neighbors. On one side of our house the fellow living there had served in the pacific and had a T89 knee mortar shell on a shelf in his front room. The neighbor on the other side had been in Europe and had a large workbench in his garage with all sorts of tools and hardware spread out on hooks, shelves, and bins. High above the bench was a U.S. MkII pineapple grenade hanging by its pull ring. Both of these items were fascinating to me and I got to inspect them at length but was never able to talk the owners out of them for my collection.

As my militaria collection got larger, I repeatedly refocused my interests to the things I was most curious about. So the German helmets and Japanese rifles went away in trades and bigger and more unusual explosive things filled up my den. And as Paul says, once you get one, you find another that's a bit nicer or more unusual, and then you can't seem to stop.

 

[ozziammo]

Ordnance collecting

Howdy Fellow Collectors,

Basically human beings are hunter gatherers (instinct), the male species tends to hunt, find & store for future use.

If we take this analogy a little further, in this modern day & age where the basic necessities of life are laid on, our need to gather food, shelter, clothing has not gone away but needs to be satisfied somehow.

This is where collecting comes in, why we are interested in ordnance, (why ordnance?) and things related is the mystery question, maybe it is our desire for self defence/self presevation (instinct again) that drives our interest!

My Dad who by the way collects sewing machines has given the collector bug a medical name: "Compulsive Aquisition Syndrome"

I started with a 13.2mm Italian AP projectile at the age of about 8, I reckon I polished that projectile till it was the size of a .22, luckily I have replaced it with a better specimen, but my interest has not wained & am always after the one I havn't got. This by the way provides me with satisfaction when I add a piece, dissapointment when I miss out and the continual pleasure of looking at them. (basic human instincts)

Hope this helps us understand why we collect.

Happy Hunting,

Regards Ozzi.

 

[JustinF]

I blame the 1/32nd scale Mustang that my father built me when I was young and the film 'The Battle of Britain' for getting me intersted. As a youngster I wanted millitaria rather than football kit and games ect for Birthdays and Christmas, which made for interesting show and tell lessons in primary & junior school, this was back in the 80's, im sure there would be a differant reaction now if I was showing off Third Reich items to the rest of the class!

One thing I feel that the new generation of collectors and enthuiasts will miss out on is the ability to speak to people with first hand accounts of WW2, something that can never be replaced.

There is always something else to collect and I have gone off on many collecting tangents although always WW2/WW1 related! The other driving factor in my interest is that there is something more to understand or find out!

 

[Grenademan2005]

Why collect ordnance?..... And why not? The only problem is that if you collect coins you are a gentleman, but if you collect ordnance you are a crazy man, even in some countries a terrorist. Ask Polish collectors.
I collected always something when I started to get money: comics, coins, vintage Spanish toys, vintage USA toys as Star wars, other vintage TV toys, Dragon WWII and finally some years ago I started with the WWII grenades. Now I have more than 200 grenades, 18 German helmets, 5 German caps, German Flare Gun related items, 2 cm Flak, 3,7 Flak and PAK, some German mines, etc. All the other collections were stopped or finished at the same time that I started the grenades collection, seems that I cant have money in pocket.... The best of this collection is all the nice people that I meet in the net. I have a lot of friends around the world, from New Zealand to USA. I think that this is the best thing from collect. The worst thing.... have always the pocket in fire!