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exhibit from the 1940's

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This in a little glass case at the LLBean store in Freeport. I thought of you all and wondered how many of you still have gear from that era..perhaps handed down to you by a cherished family member


 
I've have a couple nice Wood, Canvas, Packboards with Leather shoulder straps from the 40's-50's.
 
I had a similar knife, from the early 30's. My previous room mate stole it, likely pawned it to buy smokes or beer.
 
That knife likely became someone's new found treasure. Hopefully something good came from someone bad, though that old roomie deserves some bad karma. I don't look into pawn shops, but I do spend enough time in a few antique markets to have become a regular. I can't tell you how many times I've been gripped with indecision in front of treasures, like musty books, kitchen colanders, and old thermoses. Don't ask me to explain kitchen colanders; it's a kitchen shabby chic thing. My wife assures me I've got the shabby thing figured out. Anyway, I've managed to leave the old thermoses alone, but do love old, old wool blankets. I do check out the old knives as well, but they tend to be far too big, or far too abused. I never come home empty handed. Once, my wife said to me "It's starting to look like an antique market, with all the old stuff around here." I didn't like the way she was looking at me. Take it from me, "old stuff" from the 50's can still be useful.
 
Those old brass lanterns sound interesting Mihun. I'm guessing, they don't make 'em like they used to. Not having done any camping growing up, there were no family camping items to pass down to me. Are there any old camping gear collectors out there? I do have my late father-in-laws compass thing. I say thing, because I don't know what to call it. It has a tiny wheel, which when run over the surface (route) on your map, measures distance (to a specific scale). It's tucked away in a drawer somewhere. I don't dare bring it on trips.
 
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They actually look to be chromed, not polished brass as I was led to believe. The date on them is 1976. The double burner has no date stamped, the large single burner is from 1947 (purchased on Ebay), the smaller single is a Model 505 and states "Patent Pending". We have other Coleman stoves and accessories, like an old oven. We don't buy these as collectables, we buy them to use them, usually taking either a double burner like the one pictured or the large single.

 
Yeah, I couldn't really gather gear simply for a collection; though I can't explain why I need so many kitchen colanders. Or wool blankets. Anyway; nice stuff Mihun. I've seen a couple old Coleman singles around, but didn't want another for my gear stash at home. I have a C. Peak 1 from the 90's, and am very happy with it. That double you have sure brings back memories. A favourite uncle of mine gave me a Coleman double, along with a folding table. I'm sure they were from the 60's. He'd used them on car trips north. When the seal on the stove gave out, I tried to replace it with a homemade one. When that eventually failed, I let it all go in a garage sale. What was I thinking?!
 
I have a 40s-era brass milsurp Wittnauer compass that I'm fond of... and my uncle gave me an ancient Sven saw, but I think that's probably from the 70s... one of my canoes is from 1950... but i do like the look of well-used gear.
 
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