WW2 Earliest USMC Camouflage Shelter Half With TAG “POWERS & CO. - 1942”
Item History and Pricing
WW2 USMC RARE! Camouflage Reversible Double-Ended Shelter Half with the ORIGINAL, highly perishable Contract Tag still affixed in the seam! Superb NEAR MINT condition! Sharp, crisp, unfaded colors!!The killer TAG says it all!“SHELTER HALF / CONTRACT # NOm. 38662 / POWERS & CO. - 1942 / NO. 41464”This was the 2nd of only 7 known production runs, only TWO of which were awarded and completed in 1942:Contract # NOm. 37958, andContract # NOm. 38662.(Note: This information is courtesy of... Alec Tulkoff's research in his excellent reference work, Grunt Gear.)THIS Camouflage Shelter Half is from that second run, # 38662 in 1942! There were two more Contracts awarded to POWERS in 1943, one in 1944, and two final Contracts in 1945 before the Corps reverted back to a solid gray-OD shade with the Flat Single-piece Buttons, the rationale being that the splotched camouflaged was not as effective as a solid drab in masking its presence..- All of Paired Double-Grommets, unique to the USMC Shelter Halves of WW2, are in PERFECT condition - All of the WWI-era painted double-sided “sun/starburst” Buttons are present and in PERFECT condition. NO torn Buttonholes.- All Tent Pin ROPES (stitched at the ends to prevent unraveling) are present.- All four Bedroll Strap LOOPS, unique to the USMC Shelter Halves of WW2, are present.- The number “60” is neatly stenciled in 1” numerals on the Tan side near the hem next to the middle Tent Pin Rope Grommets.Here is a SUPERB example from 1942, the very FIRST year of production of the REVERSIBLE CAMOUFLAGE SHELTER HALF!POWERS & COMPANY of Chicago and Philadelphia is the ONLY company known to have fabricated these reversible tents for the Corps. All of the “camouflage duck cotton” material was printed by J.W. Valentine Company of New York late in 1942 and again in May of 1943.This model Camouflage Shelter Half FIRST saw use November 1, 1943 on Bougainville during “Operation GOODTIME” and this example may very well have been there!!ZERO stains, pulls, frays, or tears to the body of this tent. NOTE: the Stitching on 2 of the 4 the tiny Bedroll Loops is loose. Nothing is torn. Each of the two simply requires about 3/8” of stitching on one side of the Loop. An EASY fix, but I left it EXACTLY as I found it.Bottom line: this is a RARE EARLY example of an indispensable piece of issued ‘782 gear’ that appears almost ‘unissued,’ that were it able to talk, would have much to say about the Nation’s and the Marine Corps’ “feats of arms”!
