Watching 'The Repair Shop' on TV last night, an item was brought in for repair.
"I recognise that!" I blurted.
The item in question was a WW1 compass, of a slightly different type compared with mine, but the general structure, and the cases, looked identical to mine.
So I rooted around and found said 'heirloom', which is rather later than the Repair Shop item. Mine is in perfect working order, though it lacks the shoulder strap that Susie Fletcher so ably replaced on last night's programme.
Mine is a little odd though as the case seems to pre-date the compass.
The lined leather case is imprinted with a large 'A' and is stamped with
M.HARVEY & CO LTD
WALSALL
1934
and the broad arrow of the War Department.
It's also inscribed in indelible black ink - 'H. R. Taitt 120128' (the last two digits are hard to discern).
I wonder whether Dot might know who H. R. Taitt was?
The compass is clearly inscribed:
TG.CO LTD
LONDON
No B 301092
LONDON
No B 301092
1944
MK 111
plus the broad arrow of the War Department. So the case pre-dates the compass by ten years.
I wonder how much use this compass actually got, as it seems to me to be pretty much in mint condition apart from a bit of wear to the red lining inside the case.
4 comments:
I saw the Repair Shop too - the perfect anodyne programme for these tough times. It's good to get away from it all for an hour. I wondered if the compass was liquid filled and if not how practical it may be?
Conrad, as you can see, my compass is liquid filled, and it works very well. The Repair Shop compass didn't seem to have any liquid - they took it to bits and no liquid came out, so far as I could see, but it did seem to work. (I have several compasses that have no liquid and they work fine - the needle just takes a while to settle.)
I've no plans to use mine 'in the field', but it's quite nice to have a few such trinkets lying around the house...
Martin - How much does it weigh?
300 grammes, Gibson. A fine piece of kit, but too 'precious' to use 'in the field'!
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