Milsurp After Hours

I saw this at a local auction sale so I had a bid on it. There was one commission bid and I was the only bidder in the room. I got it for £47 (about $60 USD) after adding the buyers premium. I didn't think that was too bad a price. It is a SMLE rifle bucket for the cavalry. I presume it is from WW1 era. There are no makers marks anywhere that I can see. It is in good condition except for the centre strap that has been snapped off. It has broken and not been cut off. I think the long strap goes under the horse and is attached to the saddle on the left side. I have not seen one of these before and thought it was an interesting thing to have. I just need the horse and saddle now. A SMLE fits OK so I presume that is what is is made for.
A few pics. This is a link to the sale I got it from. It was lot 6.
http://www.thompsonsauctioneers.com/pas ... 00c5d0721a

Regards
Peter.

Nice purchase. Bet you are the only one who visits this site that has one....or seen one outside of a museum.

I've seen them outside of museums,
Army Disposal stores used to have them for sale at about 10/- each for really good/new ones and less for used, but this was about 70 years ago.

A lot of them were bought for the leather and were cut up, as were Light Horse leggings.

A nice acquisition Peter, as you say, all you need is the horse and saddle

I love this kind of thing. So cool.

If you don't have a horse maybe you should put it on the side of a jeep. You know, Rat Patrol style.



-ArchFluffy

A nice find Peter. I managed to rescue this postcard scan from my photobucket account after some difficulty.
Joe

Thats neat Joe a nice find.

Thanks for the photo Joe. It looks to be a slightly different model to mine but I suppose there were different versions made. The centre strap in the photo is quite wide but the one on mine is 7/8th of an inch wide.
Regards
Peter.