02/16/2025
In a previous post I mentioned the Australian Slingaroo bag, a nifty piece of surplus that may easily find a second life in the civilian world. The front flap was adorned with an early variant of Banana Republic's official crest, possibly an embroidered patch. To date I've not seen this bag in the wild, however a search for one matching that description revealed the find I'm sharing today, a bit of British military surplus made in 1941 and never issued. Like its Aussie cousin, the bag is simply constructed of a single piece of sturdy cotton canvas with a two-button closure and a length of twill tape for the strap. Most intriguing is a faded sticker (no longer sticky given its age) that was affixed to the bag by the surplus dealer. The word ZIMM seemed mighty familiar thus a quick check with the Zieglers' memoir _Wild Company_ was in order. Sure enough, the first surplus dealer the couple did business with was a certain Mr. Zimmerman, aka Zimm, who stored his wares in an Oakland warehouse. 'Twas Zimm himself who sold the Zieglers the legendary Short-Armed Spanish Paratrooper Shirts, the first official BR product.
The eBay seller I purchased the British bag from is currently offering a number of interesting items for sale, surplus in particular. One of these objects, a pretty darn cool gadget originally made for the USGS and later used by the military for aerial mapping, has a lengthy description in its listing followed with quite a story as to how it was acquired (see WHERE DID IT COME FROM). In brief, a family is having a major clear-out of their father's cache of surplus stock, which he obtained in the 1970s from auctions held at SF Bay area military bases as well as shuttered civilian-owned businesses. The coincidence here is almost too good to be true; my money's on this chap being the very Mr. Zimmerman the Zieglers encountered all those years ago. / AW
eBay links:
Sling bag https://www.ebay.com/itm/334913460059
Bausch & Lomb Ellipsoidal Reflector Projector https://www.ebay.com/itm/332591640175
Images: Sling bag and "ZIMM" sticker; Summer '81; Fall '82 (issue no. 10).
