Posted 10 years ago
tlmbaran
(136 items)
Nice garage sale find! I've always wanted one, but didn't want to pay the $300 dollars they usually go for. Kid wanted $100 bucks for it, and I gladly paid! (Just paid for his beer and BBQ for today July 4th)
It measures 48 inches long, and is a bit rusty....but this one is special. Normally these practice bombs are stenciled with numbers and Military specks. ...but MY bomb is professionally hand painted as "LAST BOMB PRODUCED" gives the date, and name & address of the manufacturer. Has sat in a garage for 70years, and the fin is pretty rusty....but it's still special to me. At first I was planning on restoring it, until I saw the inscription. ...great find for my collection, and HAS to be worth more than what I paid....especially since it's the "LAST BOMB PRODUCED"
Fantastic! I not a militariana collector but this is really cool. I would not restore it either; you risk affecting its value and collectability for many people. Great find. Price seems good too.
Lucky you! I would leave it be also. You might put some "Ospho" on the rust to phosphorize it & help prevent the rust from getting worse. In my experience, Ospho doesn't affect paint.
Great shell, the artwork does make it more valuable than the standard one.
I think that it was well worth the price.
Here is one of mine with similar lettering (last fired on VJ Day):
http://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/51629-trench-art-shell-fired-on-vj-day
scott
Thanks, Scott.
When the kid told me he had one, my whole idea was to find one and restore it with a fresh paint job...but when he pulled this out from the corner of his garage, I KNEW it was special. He said his grandfather gave it to him, and that's all he knew. I have seen them sell on bay for around $300 dollars (+/-) and the $100 I gave for this was well worth the investment....especially with the hand painted inscription....