Pre-1900 Italian Army leather cartridge boxes/ammo pouches?

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Hello all,


I know these are somewhat outside the focus of this forum [covering mainly WW1 and WW2 relics], but numerous searches on these, while coming close, have turned up nothing definite.

I recently acquired these two leather cartridge pouches, which appear to be late 19th century. Both feature rivetted reinforcements on the flap edges, same reinforcements to upper corners of body, rivetted suspender ring and rivetted belt loops on back. Typical leather tab and metal stud fastener flap closure. Leather dividers sewn inside to separate ammo, presumably in stripper clips. They differ slightly in that one has four compartments inside and brass fittings/rivets, the other has six compartments and aluminum fittings/rivets.

First one is marked inside the flap with a circular RE marking. Second one has several illegible markings stamped under flap in the same area. I was thinking Italian [RE = Regio Esercito], possibly for use with the Vetterli-Vitali rifles or early production Carcano rifles [the two-pocket grey leather Carcano pouch we are all familiar with was adopted about 1907]. However, the rivetted construction looks a lot more like German production.

Several period color lithographs of Italian troops during the Boxer Rebellion campaign show similar pouches being worn, but hard to tell for sure as they are an artist's rendering [at the same time, definitely not the 2 pocket 1907 type].

Looking forward to hearing from you guys.

Thanks Alan