German 20l Jerry can found in a Jersey attic October 2011

[JERSEY 34]

This Jerry can is a standard 20l German fuel can of the time. It's dated 1940 making it 71 years old. It is in really good condition and has its original paint finish. What is a little different and that I have not seen before is the black stencilled "HEER" on the bottom front edge of the can. This can although nothing rare or unusual was a nice surprise, it was found whilst a friend was doing an attic clearance. It just goes to show that you never know what will turn and when.
All the best from Jersey,
D.

[zwerge]

Nice Find!!

[Nick Hessens]

Very nice find! Thanks for showing.

Regards

[talltom]

very nice find mate with an unusual but nice twist with the heer sign

tom

[cricketchris1944]

I like it.
One item I need to get for the collection.
chris

[Datrus]

I have one supposedly from Afrika Korps stamped 1942 Werhmact. It's "sand" or coyote brown so i guess it should be from A K.

[Paul D]

I have one supposedly from Afrika Korps stamped 1942 Werhmact. It's "sand" or coyote brown so i guess it should be from A K.

Sand or tan camo paint was common all over the eastern front as well !!

[Datrus]

Thank you for the info. I thought it was from A K because of the color. I wrote "supposedly" having learned that not many things in this hobby or collector life is certain. I will say it's definitely from the Eastern Front then.

[CARL]

D, your kanister is a 1940 Muller Schwelmer Eisenwerk u. Co of Schwelm, Westphalia production from batch run 63 (nice, early number). They made kanisters there throughout the war. Below, compare my early "X" pattern kanister, also a Muller Schwelmer, from '39. Muller Schwelmer produced the rare "X" pattern cans between 1937 and 1941.

Regarding the tan/sand coloured painted kanisters, Dunkelgelb cans were common all over the Eastern front, as was correctly stated above. The rare Wasserkanisters were also painted this colour. A really good example is shown below. Also visible is the painted "W" mark on the handle section, to designate the kanister was to be used only for water. In my opinion, the painted "heer", the large painted white crosses and w's on water cans and various other markings add quite nice touches to these items.

More photographs of these kanisters are visible in the Third Reich Militaria For Sale section (forgive the blatant plug!), as I am currently looking to sell a few of my larger items.

Hope this information helps a little D.

Regards,

Carl

[Datrus]

This is exactly the kind of Jerry can we have(WASSER 20L). Thank you for the info mate.