After picking up such a rough Italian shovel, I just had to upgrade and get one in much better condition. My "wheeling-and-dealing" paid off, and I just received another shovel. This one is in MUCH better condition!
You can read about the first shovel in my last blog entry, or you can just click the link here:
https://sharky-fourbees.blogspot.com/2019/01/italian-army-shovel-entrenching-tool.html
UPDATE 7/23/19: You can read about the Italian Navy shovel cover that fits this shovel here: https://sharky-fourbees.blogspot.com/2019/07/model-1925-regina-marina-shovel-cover-m.html
When I first looked this new shovel over, I thought it may be an unissued one. However, on closer inspection, it appears to have been reconditioned and repaired at some point in its life. I am guessing it was in the similar, bad condition, with sheared rivets and a bad handle.
On this shovel, the wooden handle has been replaced, and attached with hand peened, new rivets.
A number of the blade rivets have been replaced with new, hand peened rivets.
These repairs may have been a field repair, since the peening of the new rivets does not appear to have been done by a very experienced repairer.
Be sure to check out my previous post to see how this shovel probably looked before the repairs!
As I mentioned in the last post, the two holes in the blade are for securing the shovel to the leather carry frog, or to the side of a pack. A leather strap threads through the holes and buckles.
As I have mentioned before, these shovels were popular with the German Afrika Korps in North Africa during WW2.
These old Italian shovel have been very hard to find in years past, however it appears that a "hidden stash" has been uncovered and have now found there way onto the collectors market. Since they were used from before WW1, through WW2, and into the early post-war 1950's, they are often in pretty rough condition. I was lucky with this new shovel!
Let's take a closer look.
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