MP38/40 Magazine Pouch Pair - Good?

[DerFunker]

Good evening, friends. I've been hunting a good MP40 pouch pair for as long as I can remember, and I've found these... they look to be in unissued condition and in a tan/sand color canvas. I only have books and pictures to refer to, and I've never had the opportunity to handle many of these in person. Can you folks be so kind as to tell me if anything stands out? I've love to have them, but I'm just not too certain...

Also, am I correct in being told that the color of canvas had little or nothing to do with the branch or front these would have been issued to? I've read that the blue/green/tan/etc. pouches were in use by all branches. True?

One million thanks, as always.

-DF

[JPhilip]

Hello,
classical clg MP38/40 pouches, all original.
Thanks

[DerFunker]

Hello,
classical clg MP38/40 pouches, all original.
Thanks

Thanks, JP! I knew I could count on you.

After I posted this thread, I continued to do some searching, and it appears that the "clg" (Ernst Melzig Lederwaren, in Liegnitz I think) is one of the more common late war MP38/40 pouches to find in unissued condition. I wonder, was there a quantity of these found stored away in recent years? These definitely look untouched, as did a few other examples I found. Either way, I made the purchase, and I'm glad I'll finally have a pair. They'll look great on my late-war PzG mannequin.

Thanks again - you've once again helped me to verify and expand my collection.

[JPhilip]

After I posted this thread, I continued to do some searching, and it appears that the "clg" (Ernst Melzig Lederwaren, in Liegnitz I think) is one of the more common late war MP38/40 pouches to find in unissued condition. I wonder, was there a quantity of these found stored away in recent years? These definitely look untouched, as did a few other examples I found. Either way, I made the purchase, and I'm glad I'll finally have a pair. They'll look great on my late-war PzG mannequin.

Thanks again - you've once again helped me to verify and expand my collection.

Hello,
Yes most of clg pouches found in collections are in unissued condition. If they have been well stored, they just look like new.
They also exist in green canvas. I sold two pairs in green and tan colors some years ago, so i had the opportunity to memorize features that are finally always the same. Some collectors from eastern europe i guess believed that all these clg produced pouches were fakes, in the same way than some collectors in western europe did not believe that G43 pouches found in the east were originals. Unfortunately for all those collectors, proofs of these items being actually original popped up over the years.

And i witnessed one of them...in June 2004 in Normandie, while talking with some friends who runned an exhibit about the fight German troops vs Commonwealth troops, a peasant came to us, he asked who was in charge and gave him something wrapped with newspaper. When my friend opened, it was a tan clg 43 right pouch, directly from the Normandie Front. The peasant just said "it's for you, my father found it after the fights..."
Thanks

[DerFunker]

Hello,
Yes most of clg pouches found in collections are in unissued condition. If they have been well stored, they just look like new.
They also exist in green canvas. I sold two pairs in green and tan colors some years ago, so i had the opportunity to memorize features that are finally always the same. Some collectors from eastern europe i guess believed that all these clg produced pouches were fakes, in the same way than some collectors in western europe did not believe that G43 pouches found in the east were originals. Unfortunately for all those collectors, proofs of these items being actually original popped up over the years.

Interesting... I didn't know that so many believed these to be fakes at one time! It makes you wonder how many of these might have been discarded over the years by people assuming they were bogus.

And i witnessed one of them...in June 2004 in Normandie, while talking with some friends who runned an exhibit about the fight German troops vs Commonwealth troops, a peasant came to us, he asked who was in charge and gave him something wrapped with newspaper. When my friend opened, it was a tan clg 43 right pouch, directly from the Normandie Front. The peasant just said "it's for you, my father found it after the fights..."
Thanks

Very cool story - thank you for sharing that. Every bit of provenance helps! That must have been quite the eye-opening experience. I suppose that if a tan pouch was found in Normandy, it shows that all colors of MP38/40 pouches (tan, green, blue, etc.) ended up on all fronts and weren't just branch or location specific.

Thanks again!!