Hi,

i am posting a couple of compasses one of which is plastic cased and stamped Corps of Engineers, US Army, and the other one in brass painted black is unsigned.
Both are filled with fluid and have a diaphram at the bottom and are 2 inch dia around.
Straps are in thick leather and unusually extremely long and the whole seem pretty aged.
Being lately found i am seeking for infos about them,
tnks rgds

Enzo

The one marked Army Corps of Engineers appears to be either late WW II to post war. There were several makers of these including Superior Magneto company of Long Island City, New York. Most of these, especially the earlier ones, have the date of manufacture on the side of the compass somewhere, something like 8-44 or 2-45 where the first number is the month and the second number is the year. These were inexpensive plastic case compasses that were given to U.S. paratroops and other kinds of infantry. This type of compass is not very accurate and the finely graduated degree markings are rather humorous since it is best used for telling North from South or East from West and not much more.

The second one is some kind of a prismatic compass, but since there are no markings of any kind I would assume that it is not military. From its appearance I would think it likely to be from somewhere around the 1930s to 1950s.

Jim,

thank you for your comments, surely i will inspect them better to look for any markings...any idea why such long straps on both of them? the prismatic one is almost two feets....rgds

Enzo

Aloha Enzo

The long straps are so the compass can be worn on the outside of a parka in extreme cold weather

Aloha Scott