Original Item: Only One Available. This is a very scarce original U.S. WWI-era Abercrombie & Fitch private-purchase canteen set, based on the combined mess-kit and canteen concept associated with Guy H. Preston’s 1895 design. The set remains enclosed in its original canvas cover, which still retains an Abercrombie & Fitch label beneath one of the side flaps. This originally came with mess kit pieces around the bottom, but that piece is now gone.

WW1 Officers were required to procure their own uniforms and accouterments. This mess kit canteen combination was made by Abercrombie & Fitch and is a typical private purchase item available to officers. Some officers even purchased larger mess sets capable of serving several men at one meal. These were officers whose duty was behind the front lines. Combat officers at the front only carried what was necessary.

This example has no cap and instead has a cork that we did not attempt to remove due to the fragility. The cover is entirely closed with a shoestring that we could not undo without causing damage.

The original carry strap is retained, held together with a small piece of twine that may be period. 
The combination of the Abercrombie & Fitch label, early combined canteen-and-mess-kit pattern, fully laced canvas cover, cork closure, and retained carrying strap makes this an unusually interesting surviving example of private-purchase field equipment from the WWI period, despite the missing mess kit part. The inability to open the cover without risk of damage leaves the internal configuration partially unverified, but the surviving exterior components and retailer identification remain important original features.