T1 chinstrap

[Watchdog]

Good afternoon gents,

Can anyone offer opinions on this chinstrap which I believe is a 1945 patt T1?

The seller states it came out of a carton marked 1942 but that can't be correct can it?

The buckle plate is blackened brass and I think the other parts are steel. Maybe the ferrule on the loose end is also blackened brass.

In hand it appears to be OD3 and in daylight looks an identical shade to that on a 1942 fixed bale M1 in my collection although this one is mint and the one on the helmet is obviously not. The pic makes it look greenish but if you look closely the one on the helmet shows the same tinge.

As I say my thoughts are that this is a 1945 patt T1 so would it be correct for a KW swivel bale?

All opinion is welcome.

Regards

Mark

[CampX]

I have several of those in Green, with the copper fitting painted black, my understanding is the green ones came out late in 1944, yours would be earlier. Now with that said, I have been told the green ones are post war, however I have seen some originals in Museums in Europe that have the late war green straps.

JUst My Thoughts

Dean O
Canada

[ruddersrangers44]

Either you've discovered something incredible Mark or this is a total scam,either way i'm at a loss on this.sorry can't really help much as i've never seen anything like it before in all my years.

[Watchdog]

Either you've discovered something incredible Mark or this is a total scam,either way i'm at a loss on this.sorry can't really help much as i've never seen anything like it before in all my years.

Thanks for the replies Dean and Jake,

This cetainly looks and feels authentic and the sellers pitch did not have the usual "alarm bells" of the typical "look at this ultra rare piece for no money" sort of spiel we see in the common fake sales.

This seemed to be given an erroneous description as a WWII (1942) item which it clearly isn't and it is said to be from an estate sale.

Obviously the T1 was introduced very late war and I expect was not in full circulation until post-war but I had the idea that it was made in OD7. As I say this one compared in hand to that on a 1942 M1 helmet looks to be the same shade of OD3 albeit that it is mint rather than worn. I wonder is it possible that the colour has faded (rather uniformly) for whatever reason, so as to resemble OD3 this closely?

For what it is worth, if this is a fake it's a bloody good one!

Regards

Mark

[earlymb]

It could be that it's a prototype or very early production example, made from leftover khaki standard chinstrap material.

[ruddersrangers44]

The facts as there currently known are as follows,the T1 was designed sometime in 1944 and were issued in small boxes into field service as replacements at service/field depots,many times the new T1 hook was added to the existing J hook usually just above,many examples can be seen,as Dean said from mid 1944 all area's of field gear in khaki or OD shade number 3 were being phased out in favour of Olive drab OD shade no 7,i cannot see how its poss unless these are late war produced factory replacement chinstraps,and surplus stocks of OD3 were simly being used up,which is more than possible but its certainly a first for me Mark,anything is possible as more info is constantly coming down the pipeline,its no differant to finding a WW2 McCord made pot with a Korean war heatstamp and yes they exist i've seen a few,so there you go,just keep the mind open.nice find indeed.