Canteens

Very nice typical late war M42 canteen in good used condition. The canteen features a nice brown leather straps which gives the canteen an aesthetic look. Both the flask and the cup are unmarked. Typical late war canteen!

Beautiful and very rare canteen most probably made by the Dutch company VerBliFa (De Vereenigde Blikfabrieken) during the German occupation. The canteen is in used but good condition. VerBliFa (De Vereenigde Blikfabrieken) was the main manufacturer of the Dutch pre 1940 army mess kits, canteens and other stuff, these items were made in the exact same way. Stamped sheet metal and then tinned! The canteen is missing its cup. On the back of the harness a fork is fitted from the four piece cutlery set which has been there since the end of the war. The canteen is unmarked which is often the case with these Dutch produced canteens. Maybe one of the rarest variant of the M42 canteen there is, and for sure one of the best canteens I have ever offered!

Textbook late war M42 canteen in overall good condition. The canteen has a nice cover with desirable riveted loops, which are sadly a bit damaged. The flask itself is nicely marked MN 43 which (most probably) indicates production by Metallindustrie GmbH. Neunkirchen-Saar (MENESA) in 1943. The canteen comes in a typical late war configuration with a phenolic resin cup. Nice late war example!

Steel M42 canteen marked RFI 43 / CFL 44. I found the canteen like this. Although the cup and the flask are not matching I deem that they have been together for a very long time. Textbook M42 style canteen in very good condition that would be hard to upgrade!

Textbook late war M42 canteen in overall good condition. The canteen has a nice cover with desirable riveted loops, which are sadly a bit damaged. The flask itself is nicely marked MN 43 which (most probably) indicates production by Metallindustrie GmbH. Neunkirchen-Saar (MENESA) in 1943. The canteen comes in a typical late war configuration with a matching cup. Nice late war example!

Textbook coconut canteen marked HRE 42 indicating production by Heinrich Ritter, Esslingen. Typical example with first pattern friction buckle closing strap. The canteen is in good used condition and complete with its rare simplified aluminium cup with factory olive paint

To learn more about the coconut canteens you can read my article about them here; https://fjm44.com/articles/the-coconut-canteen-ritters-mystery-canteen/

Textbook coconut canteen marked HRE 41 indicating production by Heinrich Ritter, Esslingen. Typical example with first pattern friction buckle closing strap. The canteen is in good used condition and complete with its phenolic resin canteen cup. Hard to find example in the first year of production!

To learn more about the coconut canteens you can read my article about them here; https://fjm44.com/articles/the-coconut-canteen-ritters-mystery-canteen/

‘Last Ditch’ coconut canteen in good condition. These coconut canteens with simplified harnesses are of a unknown, exact specific design. Collectors discuss two possible specific uses for this design. One being that they are post war reissued with a simplified harness. The second is that they are unfinished examples that have been hastily fitted with a make shift strap and cap system in 1945 as a ‘last ditch’ effort. One could argue that they should have then been dated 1945 but this is not per se a must. I have observed many(!) 1942 and 1943 with 1944 dated buckles. This is a indication that either they kept using the 1941, 1942 and 1943 molds up until 1945 ór simply still had stock which could explain the fact that no coconut canteen bodies are produced in 1944. For a early post war manufacture it would not be logical that the straps would vary as much as they do because a post war peace time manufacture would not have the need utilising every single scrap piece of leather. Nor would it be a necessity in a post war Germany littered with wartime uniforms, equipment and for sure canteens.

This is for me, the most logical explanation that this is a ‘last ditch’ effort in fielding these otherwise unfinished canteens or produced from 1942 molds. Rare variant!

Nice large tropical M31 canteen in very good condition. The canteen is a nicely matching example marked SSL 43 which indicates production by Sieper & Sohne, Lüdenscheid in 1943. The canteen comes together with its original black phenolic resin cup. Hard to find maker which is normally better known for its belt buckle production.

Textbook issue coconut canteen marked HRE 43 indicating production by Heinrich Ritter, Esslingen. The canteen is in very good condition and is complete with its original cup. For more information on these canteens look at my article here; https://fjm44.com/articles/the-coconut-canteen-ritters-mystery-canteen/

Textbook issue coconut canteen marked HRE 42 indicating production by Heinrich Ritter, Esslingen. The canteen is in good used condition and is complete with its original cup. For more information on these canteens look at my article here; https://fjm44.com/articles/the-coconut-canteen-ritters-mystery-canteen/

Textbook original large 1L aluminium canteen or Labeflasche in very good condition. The flask itself is unmarked but the cover is visibly dated 1943. The canteen comes together with a black bakelite drinking cup in excellent condition. Nice original “tropical” canteen with webbing straps!

Nice early pre M31 model canteen cup in very good condition. The cup is the small high aluminium variant which was issued with the canteens prior to the M31 pattern. These were also produced at the same time as the M31 pattern canteen, in that case mostly for political (HJ, SA Etc.) use. This example is nicely marked with 1/4L which indicates how much it could contain. Nice example!

Rare Dutch canteen in very good condition with original cork.

Large tropical canteen marked CFL42 indicating production Carl Feldhaus Lüdenscheid in good condition. There are some damages to the felt but otherwise in good used condition.

Very nice first world war issued canteen cup in very good condition. The cup is nicely marked Nickelwerk 12 which would indicate that this cup is produced in 1912! The cup is nicely unit marked I.R. 155. which indicates Infanterie-Regiment 155. Very nice and interesting first world war issue canteen cup which is unit ID’ed!

Excellent late war enamelled M42 canteen in configuration with a bakelite cup and brown leather straps. The canteen itself is a beautiful blue/blackish enamelled example finished with a rough green paint which is a way of manufacturing only encountered by AEMA. The felt cover and the brown leather straps are all marked AEMA 43 indicating production by Annweiler Email-u.Metall-Werke in 1943. The brown leather closing strap is a bit fragile but still functional. Excellent late war variation canteen!