Help with ID - Danish ammo box, ex British ww2?

[turpin42]

Hi
Got this box from a friend last night.
Danish ammo box for 7.62.
Never seen one like it, lid held on with British 37 pattern straps and drops down inside the box.
Lid looks like it is newer than the box,
Many coats of paint on the box, maybe blue originally?
Hope someone can shed some light on it, maybe worth to stip off the paint?

Many thanks for any help

T42

 

[hangarman]

Hi Turpin,
In all my collecting years I have never seen anything like it so would say it is not British. Not much help really!
Cheers
Hangarman

 

[LCplCombat]

It looks more like an equipment box to me. If the buckles are blackened, I think it means they are post war.

 

[reccetrooper]

The webbing material and the buckles look like surplus British, but they are not British made straps.
Look where the buckles are sewn on to the webbing. The strap end is raw, British straps would have the raw end tucked underneath before the material was sewn to prevent it fraying.

The Danish had lots of surplus British items, many of these items have been released from Danish civil defence stores in the last decade. I have seen mint British WW2 messtins, lightweight respirators (with Danish instruction booklets), early airborne helmets (re-painted black), and various webbing items. A lot of the webbing items have been modified, such as the Pattern 37 haversacks with extra straps sewn onto the body that appeared at British militaria fairs about 8-10 years ago.

I suspect that the box could be Danish made, and that the securing straps were Danish made using surplus British webbing (available on roll's) with surplus British buckles.

 

[mausernut]

Danish post-war webbing was a mix of surplus british Pattern 37, 44 and 54 and 'home-made' items, especially pouches which were adapted to danish equipment and arms, Garand clips + Energa-grenade, Model 54 hand grenades, M/62 machine gun belts etc.
But the grey colour usually signifies civil defense. Much CD equipment were military in type and often adapted from military surplus, at least in the early years. The only military grey coloured boxes I've seen were Kynoch contract .30 DI tracer from 1957 (pictures on the IAA forum) and that was an different grey colour.
The equipment of the civil defense is worth a study in itself....:tinysmile_hmm_t:
Soren

eta: added word