Unusual beach finds

[Steve T]

Hi all

First off, I didn't find these. They were sent to me by a metal detectorist with little interest in wartime stuff. I am truly grateful to this gentleman, (and he IS a TRUE gentleman !!), for sending me the items he would have otherwise traded in at the local metal scrap merchant. It means more relics have been saved from the smelter and I can't thank him enough.

Anyway, here is what he found.

Very strange items, with one being found on one trip, and the other two in the same hole on a subsequent trip. The headstamps clearly identify them as 2lber shells for naval use yet they have been cut down and had the rim ground off. One has then had its lip turned over. I can only assume that they had been made into ashtrays by a bored sailor.

The clip I believe is a 2lber safety clip, fitting over the base of the cartridge to protect the blast cap. Never seen one of these before myself, and a very interesting item. Hopefully someone can confirm its use.

The last item is a 20mm Oerlikon cartridge, dated 1944. I love these cartridges

Enjoy.....



20mm headstamp



The safety (?) clip, nicely marked.



The cut down 2lbers, clearly showing the lathe marks and the flaring of the rim on the centre example.



The headstamps. All WW2 dated, all 2lbers and all marked for naval use. No.1 Mk II.



Thanks Slippery !!!! I owe you one !! If I ever find anything not WW2 related you get first dibs on it

Cheers

Steve T

[Whitehunter]

They will look good in your display

Did you give them a clean?

[Steve T]

Yes....gave them a good scrub and then a going over with a brillo pad

And they already have a good spot in the display and are all labelled up

[davejb]

Terrific markings Steve, i take it that you have fitted the protector to the base although the rim would have been nice to see

[Unforgottenwar]

Very cool and amazing how well they cleaned up!
I'd like to do that with of few 20mm casings, but not sure how.
Do you have any tips?

[Good Pwny]

Cool pieces! Wish I had friends like that! Enjoy!

[Steve T]

Unforgottenwar - Take a look here

50 cal display

A quikcer method is the Cillitt Bang method but it only works on cartridges that aren't too tarnished. Squirt the cart in Cillitt Bang then squirt some into a heavy duty scourer. Cup your hand to keep the cillitt Bang in contact with the cart and scrub for 30seconds. Rinse and buff with a Brillo pad. Should be done

The ones above just needed the Brillo pad step as they were almost shiney anyway

[LUCKYSTRIKE]

Very nice mate, just a suggestion but I think they're trench art ashtrays and the centre section was perhaps for a lighter, which hadnt unfortunately been completed when they were dumped.

Ps great job at cleaning them up, I also have a larger safety clip in the same style as yours I dug a few years ago, sadly I cant remember it's size but I'll look it out and get a pic posted.
Cheers
LS

[LUCKYSTRIKE]

Here it is, a 3 inch Safety Clip. I dug this a few years ago from of all places a village rubbish dump. I cleaned it at the time but it had since tarnished over so Ive given it a clean up for its photo . I'm assuming this was for a Naval gun because of the N with the WD arrow.





Cheers
LUCKYSTRIKE

[davejb]

Nice find there lucky, they're quite collectable especially as the amount of details that are displayed