Two more M-42 shells

Ipicked up these two M-42 Germn shells. I got them for a cheap price because some kid had painted both of them in black. Both shells were in good condition so I thought it might be worth it to clean them and see if any original paint was still there. One appeared in rusted condtion and not much was to be saved, maybe 5% of what could have been some kind of cammoflage, but that is one a guess.

The second one offered me a wonderful surprise. After scrapping off the black paint it came out as a Luftwaffe shell with much of the blue grey paint still on it. no insignia to be saved, but would yo uhave expected this by seeing the initial shell?

 

Nice helmets!

 

They are. What's great about this country is that you can still find these at local flea markets and sold by non-militaria collectors among all kind of things. So anything can pop up. Last year I found 5 German helmets, including two complete ones with liner and chin strap .This year I have alrady found three (these two and a Luftschutz one) .

What you can also find is silverware cutterly from all belligerants. Sometimes people put their garage sale junk on zeltbahns. You'll find them with paint stains or boots theat were worn to the core by civilians after the war. I found a German mortar box filled with rotten hay and a beatle nest in it! Nobody wanted it . I picked it up, put it under a tap and after it was more or les clean I put it in box and took it home for 1 euro. It has all the original markings and was probably directly taken from the barn where the Germans had left it. This is also how I found my U.S. wooden food supply crate that was left in a barn by the 3rd Army in August 1944.