Unknown Chest Webbing - Please help identify.

Hi all,

Please could you assist with the identification of this dark brown chest webbing? Its the same pattern as the SADF Pattern 83 but the only difference i see is that the material is dark brown and the shoulder straps are black instead of brown. Is it perhaps one of the homelands? There are no labels and the magazine pouches have black straps inside to "pull" out the magazines.





Kind Regards
Militaryman

This dark chocolate brown webbing is generally thought to be Transkei. There is also a matching webbing made for the R1 as well. I've never seen any solid evidence to support it's use by Transkei, but I've heard from numerous collectors and SA militaria dealers that this is the case. In any event, it's not very common at all, and a nice find. I got mine several years ago along with some other oddball Homelands webbing.

Cheers,

Mike

Thanks Mike for your comments it is much appreciated. Its interesting that you say Transkei, i was thinking more along the lines of Bop. I will see if i can find any pic of Transkei using this webbing but it might be a tough one. I picked it up for R250.00 so its a real steal!!!

Thanks again.

Kind Regards
Matthew

Hi Matthew,

That is a good price! Most folks don't know what half of this Homelands kit is, so it often sells cheaply, as they think it's just SADF Pattern 83 stuff.

Which got me thinking. Your photos are pretty dark, but looking at the overall tone, the color does appear to be the chocolate brown of Transkei. However, if my eyes are lying to me, there is a possibility that this is Venda webbing. Venda used a slightly off-tone nutria color, that was a bit darker. Not as dark as the Transkei stuff though. I have a couple examples, and they're all a bit different. One of them is a dark brown, but made from a lightweight Niemoller type nylon. It was verified as Venda though.

The Bop stuff is all light green. Here's and example of the chest webbing. I'm sure you've seen the matching assault vests, as they are somewhat common. Well, they used to be anyway!



Cheers,

Mike

Hi Mike

Thanks again for your comments. Much appreciated! I tend to agree with you on the Transkei webbing. The chest webbing i have is a pretty dark brown and one i haven't seen before. Venda i do have and I agree its an off nutria colour, almost a bit sandy in colour. I as a matter of fact have a Venda battle jacket i'm about to load onto Bid or Buy - its a spare one i have and its starting at R 200.00 so real cheap! I need to get the Bop green chest webbing and battle jacket so i'm keeping my eyes open for that. You say its pretty common but i really haven't seen any around so i think its getting scarcer and scarcer! Very nice pic of your Bop chest webbing. Are the shoulder straps original or were they added? They look brown from the pic. Very nice piece indeed! By the way i got lucky today. I saw a chap walking on the side of the road wearing a Portuguese Para camo Kiko cap, so offered him R100.00 and he was more than happy. I have gotten lucky a few times like that. Love it when it happens!!

Cheers
Matthew

Heh, heh. Great story about the Kiko cap! That's pretty cool.

Yep, the shoulder straps are nutria, and are made from a thin lightweight nylon. All of the Bop chest webbing I've ever seen had these nutria straps. Its the same material used in the shoulder padding on the assault vests. Speaking of the vests, I guess they have dried up. A few years ago they popped up on eBay fairly often. It's probably been ten years or so since any of the dealers had any quantity of them. I need to look through my pile of extras, but I know I have a couple of these Bop vests in poor condition. There might be one there in decent shape I'd be willing to trade. The chest webbing has always been more difficult to find. Although Craig had one on BidorBuy just a couple months back. It sold for only $26!

I'll keep an eye out for your Venda assault vest, as I don't have one of those. I believe Albert had one of these for sale, and if I'm correct, it's based on the SWA Pattern 83 vest, with an additional pocket sewn to the rear kidney pouch? I seem to think it was actually labeled to the Venda DF as well.

Cheers,

Mike

Hi Mike,

That's interesting about the nutria straps on the Bop chest webbing. That's a nice identification making it easy to spot. IF you could look through that pile of extras that would be great i would appreciate it. As you are interested in the Venda vest and no one had put in a bid yet on BOB i quickly closed the auction. So basically i have reserved it for you. Would you be willing to trade a bop vest for the Venda vest? You are correct it is the same as the SWA P83 vest and has an additional kidney pouch on the rear. There is just a size label inside nothing else but they may have once had a Venda label in i'm not sure. Shucks i missed the chest webbing from Craig at $26!!!!! I must have been sleeping! Here are some pics of the Venda webbing.







By the way here is my email address perhaps we can convers there? "admin - at - camocollectables dot com

Cheers
Matthew

Hi Mike,

I took a few better pics as the ones above i took quickly at night. The light is better on these ones.

Cheers
Matthew







Cheers
Matthew

Hi Matthew,

Oh wow, thanks! I think we can work something out. Give me a day or two to rummage through what I have. Thanks for the additional photos of the Venda vest as well.

We'll continue this conversation through email. You'll have a message inbound sometime this evening.

Cheers,

Mike

Hi Mike,

You're welcome.....sure no problem let me know what you have. I look forward to chatting to you on email.

Cheers,
Matthew