I'm fairly used to my researches going off in odd directions...but I fear that my collecting is about to take another odd turn. I may be about to develop an Interbellum French beer glass habit. It all started off normally enough some years ago with the fairly well-known photo of two Fusiliers from 4 RNF being offered a drink as they entered Belgium at Herseaux on 10th May 1940. Closer examination of a high-resolution copy brought up the words 'Blonde Prima'...quite a risky internet search in itself. None of it would have been possible without the internet, of course. The enamelled 'chope' or tankard turns out to have been supplied by the co-operative brewery in Roubaix, Débitants Réunis. Beer glasses collection - Mugs, boots and pitchers They turn up occasionally on French and Belgian sales sites and I eventually acquired a second one, as it would be a shame to have to drink alone. Two glasses does not a collector make though. Nothing to see here, folks... I do find them though to be rather pleasant decorative items and of course Débitants Réunis were not the only brewery to be using this style or even the same colourway. Idly browsing my files of images from Northern France in 1940, I began to notice that the same brewery signs were appearing in quite a number of photos and that the BEF of 1939 / '40 would have been more than familiar with most of these beers and glasses. The Place Plumer (now Place Vandamme) in Cassel featured a maltings owned by Motte Cordonnier from Armentières and their logo is visible in the after-action images from 1940 - just to the right of where the British knocked a hole in the wall. ...so now I'm scouring the images for more clues, and in the meantime, the Motte Cordonnier glass has arrived. The base carries the same crossed-swords maker's mark as one of the Primas... Of course, three glasses is not a collection, but I now have a 'wants' list....It's alright. I can handle it...but I'm going to be in Northern France again next month...temptation will be at hand...
"Closer examination of a high-resolution copy brought up the words 'Blonde Prima'...quite a risky internet search in itself." This really made me laugh! Thanks, Rich.
..and now 'Motte Cordonnier' in colour...Next job is to work out the location. Unfortunately, no glasses visible, only bottles and mess tins. Most disappointingly, although there are un-blancoed respirator cases visible, they've all been deprived of their webbing...still looking for an original colour image of BEF webbing.
The chap on the right with the rectangular flash it flashing a bit of 2" strap but I'll grant you it's not very diagnostic
Hardly collecting...I only have one bottle and I acquired it about 45 years ago from a house clearance..but it's a nice thing, still full and I'm experimenting with a cheap LED folding light box that is allowing me to photograph small objects indoors during the winter...Lee-Metford rifles apparently but the screw cap looks 1930s to me.
After a quiet few years and a few disappointments in trying to negotiate with French internet sellers (many prefer not to send outside of France), my collection of "Beer glasses the B.E.F. would've known" appears to have a new addition on the way. A different style of glass this time. A 6/20 from Excelsior of Lille.
Only just seen this thread and the photo reminded me of one that John West had posted not so long ago. Same gun/hole I now realise (I’m a bit slow on the uptake).
Cassel was a very-photographed town. The wall has since been rebuilt, but not to the same height and it's possible to see from the painted bricks that the original material was re-used. Unfortunately, it is now a bottle-bank location so never a clear shot.
