Regular readers will know that I like the odd and obscure! This year’s Yorkshire Wartime Experience was a mecca for the collector with huge numbers of bargains to be found, and indeed we have looked at a number of them over the last few weeks. Whilst most of the items I picked up were modern, there were a number of World War 2 objects and the most unusual I found was this bundle of brown shoelaces:
For the princely sum of £2.50 the bundle was mine! These have clearly come straight from stores and are bundled up in paper and tied with red cotton. A single War Department stamp is marked on the packaging:
The laces themselves are in a russet brown colour and have phenolated resin tips to them:
I am unsure if these are for officer’s brown boots or for use by the ATS, either way they are a rare survivor and have clearly never been used for anything.
Ironically I could probably make a massive profit by selling these laces as pairs- £5 a pair seeming to be the going rate. However to do that would destroy the very reason they are interesting which is the packaging around them and they are now safely in my collection where they will remain unissued.
