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| Mentioned in Dispatches No.6 - March 2009 | ||
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In this issue
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| eBay UK and eBay EIRE ban the sale of knives, swords and bayonets | |
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As of 10th March 2009 the sale of knives - other than common meal cutlery
- has been banned from these two sites. Knives, antique knives, bread knives, kitchen knives, jack knives, Swiss Army knives, Leathermen, just about anything sharp and pointy - all verboten. What this means is that sword and bayonet collectors have lost yet another venue to in which to pursue their interests. |
| You can read the official text of the policy HERE. You can read the official explanation HERE. | |
| Queensland Police rifles and bayonets | |
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Do you have a rifle or bayonet marked to the Queensland Police? I'm working on an article on the QP for an upcoming issue of the Enfield-Stuff Circular. If you're willing to tell me about your treasure, I'll include your name among the contributors. We may be able to tell you a surprising amount of detail about your prettie. I'm looking for the following info:
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| Oilers, oilers and more oilers | |
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We are grateful to all of the folks who took the time to send pics of interesting and unusual Enfield oilers and marks - as well as a few mystery oilers. Many thanks to Michael Smythe (Queensland, Australia), Richmond Dutton (Wirrel, England), Mark Wagstaff (Woburn Sands, England) and Jeffrey Horwood (Queensland, Australia). Click on the pic to read more |
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Many thanks to Ben Byrnes (Dumfries, Virginia) for telling me about Borrowed Solders: Americans Under British Command, 1918 by Michael Yockelson. These US troops were furnished and supplied with British equipment - including the SMLE rifle - while under British command. More info is on the book website. Coincidently, Mr Byrnes is also working on his own website about the American Expeditionary Force during WWI. http://aefmemorial.com/ His pages on soldier's mail during WWI are worth a look. |
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We have previously documented that Great Britain furnished British arms, including the Pattern of 1914 (P14) rifle to the Baltic Republics (Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania) in the 1920's and '30's. Henry Gaidis (Maryland, USA) was kind enough to send us a YouTube clip with a slideshow of Latvian arms, 1920 - 1940. It's worth a look. Lots of pics of Long Lees and P14 rifles, as well as Vickers machine guns. The link is here: |
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Bore viewers are worth a look. Chris Munz (Milford, Connecticut) picked up a Type II bore viewer manufactured by Gilbert. What made this bore viewer interesting is that it sports the N found on Royal Navy arms, a scarce find. Click on the pic to see more. |
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Speaking of Pattern of 1914 (P14) rifles, do you have one? One of my next projects will be on some of the interesting marks found on P14 rifles. Louis van Waasdijk (Holland) sent in some pics of his Eddystone P14 with a question about a SAU-CIE stamp affixed to the buttstock. Personally, I myself have had a P14 with a similar tag. "Cie", of course, is a French abbreviation for "compagnie" or "company" - which leads me to suspect that this mark is actually an import/export inventory tag. More research is needed. But you can look at Mr van Waasdijk's pretty in the interim. Click on the pic to see more. |
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A Question of Confidence, a 1938 Canadian Army monograph on the Ross rifle has recently been edited and reprinted by Clive Law at Service Publications. The book has been hard to find. And even if you're not a Ross collector, it will provide a lot of background material as to how Canada ended up the the Short Magazine Lee-Enfield. This book belongs in your collection. SBP011 - #4. |
| And now for something completely different . . . | |
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I'll be the first to admit that I don't often look twice at an Enfield that has been 'sportorized.' ('sporterized'?) Then Gary Webb (UK) sent some pics of a private purchase LSA that has some magnificent checkering work. (Checkering, the fine art of cutting a diamond pattern into the wood or metal, takes time, patience, and a considerable amount of skill.) Click HERE for a few more pics |