Since I've shown my Hood Rubber set, I thought I'd show it's low pressure "brother" set I have, the St. Clair.
This one is interesting for a couple of reasons.One is the possible blood spatter on the inside of the front seamed fixed bale pot. If it is blood, then the liner was obviously not being worn at the time. Is it blood? I'm not sure, and would ask for your opinions?
The heat stamp on this McCord pot dates to around August 1943. I've checked under high magnification, and the pot only seems to have one layer of paint, this is quite dark, but that seems down to natural weathering, not an overpaint. Also, due to the fraying of the chinstraps at the bales it seems the pot may have been near salt water during it's lifetime, and maybe this could have had an impact on the paint colour. I've seen this type of chinstrap fraying before on Navy and Marine helmets too.
The darkish greens shown in the photos of the pot and liner are pretty much true to life colour, though maybe just a touch on the dark side compared to full natural light.
For help in identification of a St Clair liner, they have a shallow dip cut out on each side near the liner chinstrap fixing to help it fit snugly under the pot bales. The Hood Rubber low pressure liners do not have these, or the large yellow "SC" for St. Clair painted in the liner dome! Sometimes though, the yellow "SC" may be worn away, or the seller on an auction site has not photographed the mark, then the Hood and St Clair can look similar due to their low pressure construction. The shallow dip helps identify the St Clair in that case from it's rarer counterpart. I've tried to show this shallow cut-away in the photos.
Also this liner seems to have it's original factory paint, which is rare to see. It seems to be a darker green than other liner types, and is rough textured with what looks like a fine sand type substance.
The liner chin strap would insist on looking like a Euroclone strap tonight, those being of a lighter brown in colour than the US dark russet brown. This is because, I believe, that I was using my new "daylight" Chinese photography lamps indoors, and is therefore my fault! It really is dark russet in "true" daylight Honest!
The photos are all hi-res, so will enlarge very well (twice), except the really close macro's.
Enough nattering, here's the pics.
All comments on my theories above, or photo quality welcome.
Best Regards,
Andy
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