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July 4, 2016, 10:21 AM | #1 |
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Join Date: August 8, 2011
Location: Midlands, UK
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British army dump - Incredible Vickers relics and LOTS more
A great day digging at the British army dump permission last Sunday, with 12 people in attendance from the WW2 RRPG.
Things were going along quite normally for the first hour or two, when Karen uncovered some very strange brass divider strips and starter tabs. They looked like Vickers cloth belt strips and tabs, but were chunkier and bigger. It wasn't until David found one in immaculate condition that, after a quick bit of a spit and a rub, revealed the starter tabs to be Vickers .50cal tabs, dated 1941!!!!! We soon realised that the 'seam' of these was really quite substantial and we recovered a HUGE quantity of them. Not only that, but after we had all dived into Karen's hole to dig the seam out, (after suggesting the 'men' should dig the rest out), we discovered a huge stash of brass Long-Lee butt plates beneath the cloth belt bits. Added to that the crazy awesome weapon parts that were coming out.........Lewis spade grips, Lewis trigger grips, P14 grenade discharger cup adapter, Lee-Enfield bits galore and loads of Flintlock 'locks' The list of awesome finds goes on. 50cal vickers cloth belt starter tabs.....rarer than rocking horse poop! The cleaning of finds from Sunday's dig is well underway. I have also discovered I had one very unusual Vickers 303 cloth belt starter tab. Not seen one like this before. The Bren oil bottles have come up nicely, as have the Lee-Enfield butt discs. The three badly damaged oil bottles are all American made 'Noera' bottles. Not tracked the weapon they are from down yet. The butt plates are all from the Long Lee, and all are marked. Usually they are marked with the unit information, but one is very curiously named!! All the 50cal Vickers belt starter tabs are marked exactly the same, so all dated September 1941. Video of the dig can be found here.......... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFLS5gQnUnE Everything I recovered on the day. And now after cleaning..... Lee-Enfield butt ID discs An unusual Vickers 303 cloth belt starter tab Thompson oil bottles More......... |
July 4, 2016, 10:22 AM | #2 |
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July 4, 2016, 10:23 AM | #3 |
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July 4, 2016, 10:57 AM | #4 |
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Wow, that's incredible. Awesome finds.
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July 4, 2016, 11:34 AM | #5 |
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Thanks It was a very good day!
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July 4, 2016, 01:29 PM | #6 |
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You must have felt like k kid in a candy store! Thanks for sharing!
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July 4, 2016, 01:34 PM | #7 |
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What a treasure trove.
What do you guys do with all that stuff you find? Is there a resale market for any of it? If you are keeping it all, you'd wind up like one of our antique collecting neighbors where we used to live. They had to buy a second house to stash it all. No kidding.
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July 4, 2016, 03:34 PM | #8 |
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Bedbugbilly - Sure did. I've been digging this site for 5 years now and it still keeps throwing up surprises. 50cal Vickers belts bits.....amazing.
g.willikers - I hate to tell you this, but that is exactly what we do with the relics we recover! Clean and preserve them, then add them to our own little museums. Well, when I say little, maybe not quite so little!! 20+ years of digging WW2 relics has resulted in a rather substantial collection. It takes up one entire room in my house and the garage There is a re-sale value to them, especially the rarer pieces, but I never sell anything I find. I have been known to do the odd trade here and there, but never sell. I display my relics at military shows, county shows and schools. Well, not all of the....about 5% |
July 4, 2016, 06:00 PM | #9 |
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Does that mean you wouldn't even trade some of it for a pint of Guinness?
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July 5, 2016, 03:00 AM | #10 |
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Correct. Two reasons......
1. I can't add the pint of Guinness to my collection, (unless you can prove it is WW2 vintage). 2. I have not drunk alcohol in 5 years. |
July 8, 2016, 10:42 AM | #11 |
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Have you ever found weapons even unfireable? What do you have to do in the UK if you do?
Very nice haul, thanks for shairing. Great video also.
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July 8, 2016, 11:11 AM | #12 |
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^^^
Yes, curious minds would like to know. Another question: Do you always refill the dig holes? Or do you leave them available for disposing of irritating neighbors?
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