Any recomendations for selecting my bag? I have bought several bags from England and several from the U.S. When ordering from the U.S., you must be very specific about the bags: Mk-VII 1941-1942-1943 Olive green with Pin-snaps that have dimples and a rim on the snap cover , Two round drain hole grids. The U.S. ones can come three ways 1. The correct type 2. Tan with pin and button holes with 6 eyelet drain holes, 3 which is very similar to the correct ones but the snap covers have no dimples or rims. Gary

Can someone confirm what W&G stands for? I've been collecting British militaria for a while now . . and have had several "field beds," mummy shaped sacks designed for stuffing with straw, that have been marked WARING & GILBOW 1932, as well as W&G 1932, and just W&G...ALL have been of heavy linen as have the W&G haversacks I've had. Chad

Could W&G stand for Willis & Geiger? Willis & Geiger was founded in 1902 and to my knowledge, never made Lend Lease products to British spec for British forces, and IF they did then such a product would have passed thru a US Quartermaster Depot and been duly marked or tagged just like all the other War Aid textiles. Chad

What is the recomendation for caring for the Bag & Strap? I won't address the care of the strap in particularly deep detail, as it appears that the source of this strap comes from so many various sources that it would be impossible to cover them all. My own personal strap I hand made from a 2 inch piece of heavy harness strapping that was already the correct length. I hand cut it down to the correct width, then lightly coated it with, of course, Pecard's dressing as described in the jacket description. The leather was oil finished, but the Pecard's soaked into the leather overnight perfectly, and the leather has remained supple and flexible. To date I have not had any transfer of any dye or material over to my shirt from my strap. I have heard two different stories about Noel Howard's strap transferring dye from the underside of the strap to the shirt, that being it does or it doesn't. No real middle ground. If you feel you need to cover your bases, you'll either need to seal the leather with a good sealant. Pecard's or Lexol has worked for me. After the treatment has completely soaked into the leather (overnight is always safe) you'll need to buff vigorously the strap area until no color transfers from the strap to the cloth. This may take some good old "elbow grease", but the results will stop the transfer. The sealant is a good idea, but cause if you think about it, the reason the dye transfers is that the salt in your perspiration is what reacts with the leather dye and allows it to release to your clothing. The dressing stops this from happening. Another suggestion I've read is to lightly sand the back of the strap to remove the surface dye, then reseal with a leather dressing such as Pecards, Lexol, or like material. This works as well and gives the same results. I have read with interest the recommendations regarding the care of the bag itself. Most authors have recommended hand washing with detergent, then allowing to air dry. I am not one of those individuals, but there isn't anything wrong with that recommendation. This bag, though old, is made out of heavy canvas to military specs. It was produced for use in combat and battlefield situations. Military spec items are always over engineered, so regardless of age, they are usually more than up the challenge, especially it simply to take a good laundering. I throw mine (less strap of course) into a clothes washer, then after the entire cycle toss into the dryer with a load of towels. After removing the bag and reattaching the strap, I usually apply a VERY light coating of Vasoline to the snap and metal areas to seal the surface from surface rust. To date I have not experienced any color change of the bag, rust on the hardware, nor have I experienced any material damage. My Mark VII is dated 1949, so it's been around for a while. They're a bit tougher than folks give them credit, but if you're one who likes to give this gear TLC, no problem here! In the long run yours will probably out last mine, but only time will tell. Mine appears to have quite a few mile left in her, so I haven't seen any reason to change. Michaelson

For those of you who have recently bought a MkVII bag and were wondering how to remove tarnish, etc. from the snaps, grommets, etc., I have found that after using brass polishes such as Brasso, etc. that simple steel wool does the job better and won't harm the canvas. Greg

Just be careful that it does not get on the canvas it will remove the color Gary

Can someone cover the MKVII bags; which version was used in the films? I have no specifics on the bag and strap, we probably found a bag in our stock at Bermans and Nathans and adjusted it at the fitting. Noel Howard

The Butterfield & Butterfield auction in Dec. 1994 sold an authentic prop bag from ToD, here's the quote:
"Khaki canvas bag with two inside pockets and snap closure. Two hoops on either side for a strap. Inside flap has VII W&G 1932 LTD 1942 stamped and INDY (B) written in black marker. From the second film in the Indiana Jones trilogy." The year 1932 is reference to Waring & Gilbow, 1942 is the year that this one was produced. Indiana John

First off, the bag was made from the late 1940 to 1943. I guess where a lot of confusion comes from in the first place is that this another "error". The bag available at that time (1936) was the MK-V bag, which has the same dimensions and appearance as the MK-VII. Some people claimed that indeed the MK-V bags were used but then, as you pointed out, the props auctioned off don't confirm this. Oh, by the way, the MK-VI had two front flaps as far as I know so those weren't used. Regarding the different "versions", as with most WWII gear; the bag was made by various companies. It's basically the same design but there might be slight nuances as far as e.g. the material is concerned. I think once someone said that he for instance found a bag that had silver color snaps on the bag.

As far as I know, the W&G and the British versions are the same. The bag issued to the Canadian Armed forces however, has a more mustard yellowish color. From what we have seen from the auction we can be sure that the bags used in the movies were probably all the W&G 1942 models. Another thing that might cause some confusion might be that there is a remarkable thing in ToD: When Indy is beaten up by the Thuggee in the cave one gets a very clear look at the two drain holes in his shoulder bag. However later during the bridge scenes, shortly before a hole is burnt into the bag, the bag is shown with three water drain holes. No the discussion goes into the direction whether this bag was a special version (which seems improbable to me as the MK-VII bag was for the standard issue gas mask at that time, might only be it was a bigger multi-purpose bag similar to the MK-VII in appearance) or if it was custom made for that particular scene. Maybe they thought the bag looked too small in the scene and so built a bigger version.

Other than that, I recall a vivid discussion about the strap that was attached to the bag. In the Cairo fight scenes Indy was sometimes scene with the strap buckle on his back which caused some people to believe that the strap actually had two adjustment buckles on it. I don't know how it turned out to be but in most of the scenes Harrison Ford simply wore the bag with the flap to the inside thus having the buckle on his back. Just another thing I just remembered: The bag was described as having two inner main compartments at the Butterfield auction. So it seems as if either the prop people cut out one piece of material or the Butterfield description isn't very accurate. Though cutting out that piece right in the middle of the bag is quite useful as it allows you to store a whip in it. It fits perfectly. In the novels Indy is sometimes described as carrying his whip in the shoulder bag and not in the holster tied to his belt (maybe this was also intended in the movies?). Max

The Canadian version was a mustard yellow instead of the olive green. W&G were the prime contractor, though I've seen a few others, and the snaps changed as did the angle of the cut at the corners of the flaps, but I personally thought that this was just a manufacturing shortcut from contractor to contractor. Michaelson

The MKVI (read: mark 6) bag is very similar to the MKVII (mark 7, Indy's usual bag). I have several of each and both serve well as an Indy bag although the MKVII is more accurate to the movie. The bags are the same size, but there are small differences. The MKVI has D rings for the shoulder strap, and small D rings on the front seams of the bag. The MKVI has two snap pockets on the back of the bag, the MKVII has two pockets on the inside/back of the bag. The MKVI has different stitching patterns on the sides, and does not have the little black "hat shaped" metal piece that the MKVII has. The MKVI bag is seen on screen briefly in TOD, during the scene where the Sankara stones burn through the bag. If you look closely, you can see the small D rings on the front of the MKVI in freeze frame. It looks to me like they changed the MKVI's original D shaped shoulder strap rings for the O shaped rings of the MKVII. The bag in the scene has three brass drain holes. Most all MKVI and MKVII bags came with two drains. I do own a MKVI with three drain holes, I bought it from Jerry at What Price Glory, and he says the extra drain hole was just a manufacturing oversight. It's odd that the prop guys would use a MKVI in place of a MKVII, and use one with an extra drain hole. After all, they did go through the trouble of replacing the shoulder strap rings to match the MKVII. I'm guessing that they just didn't want to waste a MKVII, or the design of the MKVI somehow aided in the fire effect of the burning stones. Anyway, that's all I know. I think I covered everything. Red Four

I received a couple of what I hope are authentic MKVII gas mask bags yesterday. I expected dirt and odor. However, these smell like mildew; there are permanent rust stains on one and the other is so faded that it appears tan. How do I know these are authentic? (both have the two water drains in bottom, and two brass snap buttons with slight rim surrounding a "squiggly" pattern on top and Patent to "Newey"? on underside. One has printed flap underside "MKVII M&Co.1941" and the other has no printing.) Should/Can I remove the rust stains (and possibly fade the bag further?) I have 8 bags and almost each one has a different manufacture name in them. One of the ones I got from Sentimental journey's in England match your M&Co with the same snaps (the British use different snaps than you usually find in the US) my bags stunk and had stains but when you get to be almost 60 years old some patina is expected. Mine were olive green but after hand washing, a lot of color came out but not to the point of being Tan. I think you got at least one very close to the ones used in the movies. Gary

Removing the rust and corrosion is no problem-however, I have since learned that using simply coarse grade steel wool is faster, easier, and better than using any kind of polish which can ruin the fabric. In addition to hand washing them in the sink, letting them "air out" outdoors will get rid of some of the musty smell. Greg

The leather bag strap from Noel Howard seems light, what's the deal? The color of the strap will darken with age and also if a leather cream/mink oil is used the color will deepen. Noel Howard

What is the metal disc on the side of the bag? The gas mask bag was originally worn by soldiers at chest level "at the ready". A string wrapped around the waist and then was fastened by wrapping it around the metal disc to keep the bag from flopping around while going "over the top". Although it is a WWII-era bag, the design changed little since WWI- the US Army WWI Gas Mask bag is very similar. Thankfully, Hitler was injured by a Gas attack as a soldier in WWI and thus the German Army never used Gas on the battlefield. Many Allied soldiers threw out the mask and just used the bag to carry stuff in--like Indy! Abner

Can someone give me some background information on the MKVI & MKVII bags? The MkVI has two flaps as someone said, but not both on the front, one is on the front to house the anti gas goggles and two tins or a tin and jar of Anti gas ointment. Remember that the flap for the gasmask section is actually worn towards the body on active service. As far as the MKVII goes I suspect that the debate over the (Butterfield) auction descriptions can be resolved as even after removing the central partition which held the mask and cannister, two internal pockets remain which held the anti gas goggles and one tin of AG ointment. There is also a small pocket to hold a round tin containing the demisting cloth and a piece of string to attach the tin to the bag. The MkVI had three bottom holes as I recall, one being removed for utility reasons on the MkVII. These bags were made by a large number of manufacturers and a variation of the bag, still called a MkVII, was made in India, there were also versions from a thinner canvas. I have various versions of the MkVII in my own collection. The Canadian version is also different in details but most notably can be picked up by the Canadian ordnance mark (Arrow within a 'C'). During the war the bag had to be cleaned with 'Pickerings web equipment cleaner' which had waterproofing qualities and also coloured the fabric to whatever the regimental colour was. The bag was rarely used for carrying anything other than a gasmask, I dispute that soldiers often removed the mask and used the bag for general purposes, the penalties for doing so were too great, also you never knew when a test, drill or inspection might be called. Ian durrant

How good is the What Price Glory replica? Given the fact that MKVII bags are getting harder to find...it's great to have a resource for buying them! Granted, you are buying a reproduction...so it's going to be new. However, I believe this should appeal to all crowds because it can be distressed per your exact needs. Hopefully this will spur new interest in the customizing tricks for bag distressing. Honestly, a used one will look more convincing, but you generally don't have the luxury of knowing what you are getting. Original bags vary in color, use, and smell...whereas this one will always be the same--brand new, which is something to consider.

In regards to specs, the bag is actually more of a tan/ lighter green, making it lighter than an actual issued version, and similar to an MKVI tan bag. I can't actually place the color, it's somewhat in-between the two shades. For that reason, it is an ideal bag for distressing because it has what I deem, a faded coloration and wouldn't require treatment in that respect.

The pockets are right on. The first and second pockets are open, and the third (rear) is the split configuration, featuring the small anti-fog case pocket on the top/front of the pocket wall. I own a variety of MK VII's and they do match this configuration...so there's no dispute here. I honestly like this one best, because the first two pockets are open, whereas on some different versions, you have the second pocket segmented in half...which in my opinion, lessens the storage capacity.

I was very pleased with the snaps...it's the first thing I noticed. The actual size is the same, and the wavy pattern is very similar and enlarged a little, but still very nice. You would have to cross-examine them with a real one to know the difference.

I measured the strap at 65" and compared with an MBA version to be the same width and thickness. This is definitely the lightest colored strap on the market. The front is a light brown, and the back is unfinished. You will need to trim the back side corners to eliminate leather edges which would otherwise be visible from the the front. The buckle end is double-riveted, while the screw end, features a chicago style screw, with slits on either side of the strap for insertion & play.

With the exception of the brass color, I like the buckle. It is a very similar design to the Keppler version, and is about 1/4 shorter, and just a smidge wider. Overall, I believe the bag holds to muster. I have found a few minor items that are not perfect, but these are not critical. I rate this to be a pretty faithful reproduction of the original. I will send my findings to Jerry, of whom I've been consulting with on & off for a few years, and we'll go from there. Indiana John

 

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*Many of the quotes have been edited (spelling, grammar, and punctuation) to improve clarity.