I bought a box today...

DANCESWITHEMPTIES

DANCESWITHEMPTIES

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Just pick up a couple of odd things today & one of them is this old box. It's aprox. 29" x 22" by 10" deep. I assume it was an old footlocker. Had some stampings inside, as pictured & was originally, or at one time green. Original stay rod came inside, but was no longer attached to the inside. Noticed slots cut cut on the inside left hand for a shelf. What is it? What do the stampings signify? What's it worth?

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Pine, from the look of it, and Canadian made..... but you knew that already.

I'll take a wild stab at dating the thing and go for 1943. Howzat fer precision?

I'm sorry I can't help, but it does look like one of the old-time barrack boxes which has been cleaned up for Civvy Street. They weren't very big because the Army didn't issue you all that much stuff, but everythng except what you were wearing was expected to fit inside. Inspection was weekly at least and Gawd help the poor slob whose box was not NEAT and ORDERLY.

You need somebody about 20 years older than myself to make a positive ID on this one. I wonder if we have any 85-year-old collectors in our midst. That's what it will take, likely.

Sorry.
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The only military abbreviations I could find for "H.F.C." were helicopter communications flight or home communications flight. Could it have been a military base? Ship? With the "N" being for navy? Anybody?
 
Actually, "H.C.F." would be a manufacturer's mark (usually just an abbreviation of the company's name) with which military equipment of the day was stamped, in conjunction with the year of production ......

For example, as a collector of Pattern 1937 Web Equipment, I can tell you that the marks below stand for "Zephyr Looms and Textiles Limited" (which was located in Toronto), and (no kidding) "Montreal Suspender & Umbrella Limited" which were to two most prolific Canadian producers of such web equipment ....

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However, I can't tell you what the mark on your box stands for ..... except to surmise that, since it is on a wooden item, the manufacturer's name might have included the word "Furniture" ..... :confused:
 
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EVERYTHING the Gummint bought had to be inspected before it was paid for. That means that the Army Inspectorate Staff had something to do with it. There was a book put out by the Queen's Printer about 1965 titled something like "Military Inspection Services in Canada 1938-1945". I was yellow paperbacked and not expensive. Might be something in there.

Failing finding a copy of that, start with the city directories or the phone books for the war period, starting with Montreal and Toronto. That's where the vast bulk of wartime manufacturing actualy took place; the rest of the country was just allowed to pay for it.

Hope this helps.
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HCF is Hill Clark Francis of New Liskeard Ontario. The company had a huge mill and woods operation in the Kirkland Lake, Englehart and New Liskeard Area and also Swastika. Yes there is a town called that in Ontario and still retains it name to this day.
HCF made chests for the No.4T sniper rifle, the Bren, Browning AC MG or as called in the USA ANM2. Boxes were also made for mortar and artillery shells. Check along the right end end of the wooden chest and you might find their initials.
The plant was still there until the mid 70's when it was torn down and the remaining boxes got scooped up by the locals for firewood. I got some hardware from the sniper boxes from the area along with some reject and semi complete cheek pieces for the No.4T out of the remaining junk at the site.
 
Thanks for the info wheaty. It caught my eye as I was passing through one of the shops in the area. It will soon be a display case for a few antiques I have. I'll post some pics whenever I get it finished...
 
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