WW1 Mills Crate

[Millsman]

Found this WW1 Mills crate on the Somme recently. Still has all the original nails in the sides and base for the dividers. Interesting to see how the rope handles were fixed in that period. A good detail for anyone making a repro box or doing a refurbishment.

The end looks to have the remains of the grey paint on it with small patches of grey on one of the sides. Probably used as a tool box for 90 years.

John

 

[hangarman]

Hi John,
Nice find after all these years. It looks like they used the same construction methods in ww2 for grenade boxes.
Cheers
Gary

 

[Millsman]

I've been looking for Mills crate for 13 years in the French Brocantes and never found one. Then I went to the Militaria fair at Albert and a French dealer I know had kept this for me with 3 det tins.

The crates did change. There were at least two versions of wooden crate in WW1, one with metal hinges. In WW2 they stayed pretty well the same as the WW1 crates but rope attachments seems to have varied. I always find it interesting that when people make up repro crates, they are always better made than the originals which are quite crudely made.

John