Ebay ammo drums and carrier

[12thWaffenSS]

http://cgi.ebay.com/German-WW2-Ammuniti ... 9909075007

[classicmachine]

Sort of new here, but why are these so expensive?

[Bil]

I can only see the pic in a quick flash,looks like $202 for one? If so,that is a bit much! ---bil

[JBaum]

It's a nice looking pair of cans with a good carrier. Priced about right for what it is.

[12thWaffenSS]

It's a nice looking pair of cans with a good carrier. Priced about right for what it is.

With a description like that, I was hoping you were talking about a woman.

[Bil]

I couldn't get the whole picture,but a pair of cans with nice holder for that price sounds better.There were a bunch of holders for sale about a year ago,now they don't turn up as much.Can prices vary depending if German marked,or repainted,condition ,etc.Nice,original ones aren't seen as much. ---bil

[TactAdv]

It's a nice looking pair of cans with a good carrier.

...so is Jessica Biel. ;-)

[JBaum]

Yea, but we can afford the German ones.

[timdp]

Anyone else think that they looked like they had been repainted?

Tim

[CRUSADER]

Anyone else think that they looked like they had been repainted?

Tim

.....yep

[JBaum]

considering that the original German drums were blued, yea, they were painted.

[12thWaffenSS]

So, you guys think the seller is trying to rip someone off? I was thinking of maybe reporting the guy to eBay.

[TactAdv]

So, you guys think the seller is trying to rip someone off? I was thinking of maybe reporting the guy to eBay.

Whoa! Chill.

Number one, these drums WERE painted during the War by the Germans for various and sundry reasons, not ALL, but SOME. The most notable would be the Deutsches Afrikakorps deployments, of which substantial period photographic evidence exists that is irrefutable that SOME of these cans were painted over in a flat enamel paint, some as the common "desert tan", some as feldgrau still, and there is large speculation still that some equipment was treated to a "pea green" coloring, all as over sprayed enamel-type paint. Secondly, the painting of these cans was as much for local effect or considerations and preferences, as well as after repair work was performed as a field-expedient protectant as original facilities to recreate the hot-salt bluing was not available.

There is simply no precise, absolutely concise "always accurate" statement that can be made about German War time equipment finishes and "correct" coloring that will stand up to historical scrutiny against all documentations as for every "standard" somebody asserts, there is almost always known documentations to the contrary refuting it. The most one can say is that "..such-and-such equipment most usually was seen in such-and-such a color scheme or finish"

Also, I see nowhere in the ad that the seller is suggesting the current advertised paint scheme is original, only that he is asserting that it is "correct" to his (obviously limited)knowledge as it currently is (re)finished. Buy it because it is a good condition set, not because the story is good.

And lastly, snitching to Ebay is like trying to make pigs dance....Ebay won't do a thing about it ever, and it makes you look like a whiner. Ebay transactions are -ALWAYS- "Caveat emptor", if you are uncertain as to what you are seeing advertised, simply don't buy, but trying to raise a stink about German/NAZI era gear is fruitless....there is so much forgery in that game now, getting into to it comes with a certain amount of needed education before you jump in with both feet....whining to Ebay is not the way to successfully alter the paradigm there, refusing to buy is.

If it were me, I'd buy them and then use the crap out of them on a functional MG.....they're nice cans!
-TomH

[timdp]

considering that the original German drums were blued, yea, they were painted.

Were ALL of them blued? If I strip the original wartime dunkelgelb paint off of a couple of my drums, I'm going to find bluing underneath? I would suspect that at some point they stopped bluing them and started painting then as a cheaper alternative to bluing.

Tim

[JBaum]

I haven't seen ALL of them, so I can't make that statement. There is no statement about anything made in WW2 that can be accurately applied to everything, and things were often done in the field that aren't in the books, so reading all the collector books doesn't make anyone an expert.

Perfectly painted cans with an identical color perfectly painted carrier, all in unscratched condition were obviously not painted that way and used during the war. And the carrier was missing the little cloth plugs, so this is certainly not a virgin set stored in the General's closet as a souvenir.

The guy even says in the ad that they are "correctly finished", and only one can has marks.... as I said up the page, they went for a fair price for what they are.