Opinions on M40 shell

[Worldwar2]

I have always had doubts about the originality of the color present on this healthy M40 shell. What do you think? Can it be good?

[Blackdog]

It looks like it has been cleaned or the top layer of paint has been stripped as there looks like remnants of blue/grey paint. A flaming bomb badge would have been afixed to the two holes, pointing to use post war by the Austrian rural police (Gendarmerie)

[Worldwar2]

Thank you so much for replying, I am very interested in what you say.
I leave you a photo in detail of the two holes, do you really think that one can go for the Austrian gendarmerie?
Is it possible to have a photo of the "flaming bomb badge" you speak of?
As for the remains of color, I wanted to ask you if they are related to the war period!
Thanks so much.






Maybe I found it by myself. This really should be an example of using this badge. (photo taken from the internet).



What remains to be understood, now, is to try to find out if the color is from the WW2 period or post.

[AndyM35]

There is a lot going on with the colours on this one. Looks like paint was applied at some point while the liner was out judging by the brownish paint around the rivet holes.

Do you have a photo of the inside of the shell? Any markings inside?

Andy

[Worldwar2]

Hi Andy thanks for taking part in my discussion. That of color is a nice headache, but I would really like to know if at least it is attributable to the war period. As you requested, I leave you photos of the internal markings!









We have : “1358” and on the lateral side “ET6?” .

[Blackdog]

The brownish paint looks post war, it's been stripped and scrubbed so much anyway, that to be honest, it has very little collectabilty is this condition. More for restoration/reenactor use.

[BlackCat1982]

Looks as though someone decided to strip off the Gendarmerie paint in the hope of finding something better underneath. Originally a wartime produced shell but the post war use has been erased, which I think is a pity.

[AndyM35]

Thanks for the pics. As stated above stripped inside and out erasing previous history. I was hoping that the original paint may still have been in situ as this could have assisted in indicating what the prior use had been such as a Heer, Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine or other branch of service.

Andy

[Worldwar2]

I thank everyone for coming. In the end what remains from all the information obtained is that we are in the presence of a nice solid and warlike shell, but that unfortunately it is no longer able to tell us much more following an approximate scraping of any type of color present. However, I keep it with me, at least a witness (and I believe in the end not really very common) of a use by a particular branch of law enforcement in the post-war period. Thanks a lot again to everyone.