Wartime Flashlights

Why are the most cool and interesting things usually the rarest and hardest to find? You can collect flashlights for decades, and may you can't get this. Around a few thousand pieces made of that, but by now a few hundred, or less could remain. The first version of the 646 was made around 1934.The piece that I presented here now is a later, but not the latest version. The 646 was the Pertrix brand's most expensive product. All of the parts are non-magnetic, made of copper. Copper was an expensive material in this period, the military industry used a lot of it.   All parts of the flashligh are non-magnetic, because it's had a compass on the top. With iron parts, the compass would not work properly. It’s an unique function among the WW2 german flashlights, as the copper outer casing. The compass is usable at night too, because it receives light from below. It's a nice, spectacular function! Another unique solution: the slidable front panel. If you press the shiny spring, ...

It's a german WW2 Zeiler Nº M. 4848 bakelite flashlight. Made around 1938. The Zeiler factory had founded by Max Zeiler in 1910. In the first times they are manufactured only batteries, later started the flashlights, around 1920. The bakelite Zeilers are very popular with collectors. Hard to find the nice, undamaged pieces. Bakelite is a beautiful material, but fragile, especially when used for military purposes. Often the strap is missing, and the edges of the top part are fragmanted, incomplete.  My piece is not perfect either, but it's have an interesting strap repairing. The "4848" type was made in two variations, "Nº M. 4848" and "Nº 4848".  One of the most beautiful flashlight was ever made, in my opinion. This is the M. version, with  aluminium strap fasteners. The bottom half is the strap the original, the upper is the repaired, replaced part.  The original was made of Presstoff (Preßstoff), the replaced is made of real leather. It's op...