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M1883 US Mess Hall Stool


Gildwiller1918

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Here is a US Army mess hall stool from the 1880's, they are very well made and constructed. They consist of a round convex top, with four legs with steel support cross bars that hold a wood knob designed to allow the placement of the kepi or forage headgear when seated. They typically were painted to designate a particular company or unit, this way when they mobilized or went to the field for training, they could be identified easier when unloading from the baggage train. Not much is known about the colors in particular as these stools seem to come in all shades. Some stools can be found with faint unit markings or stamps, but these typically do not hold up over time. All the stools have basically the same dimensions and style, however some are made entirely of oak, poplar, walnut, mahogany, while some were a mixture of oak, and/or walnut, and/or poplar. 

The two listed below are both originals, and I have seen no indication these are being reproduced. I refurbished the stool with the red legs. When I got it the red paint was flaking off to where the paint was almost gone. So I disassembled the stool and put the legs on a lathe to evenly remove the old paint. Caution must be used as the original paint is lead based. Once the old paint was removed, a light sanding was done and the stool was repainted back to its original look. The green colored stool is untouched. Lately these stools have been going up in price and are getting hard to find. These stools were used all the way up till after WW2.

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  • 7 months later...

We have quite a few of these but we’re under the impression they were 1930-1950 as some are stamped “munising 1949” how did you determine 1880’s?

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Here is a photo of a US Army installation from the 1880's, the stool is called the Model 1883. 

messstool_2.jpg

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