New to the forums and my first post here. I am a military firearms collector and shooter, predominantly rifles of the WW1/WW2 vintage. Through my collecting of sniper rifles and their optics, various telescopic kits for snipers and Regiment Scouts - I decided to add a pair of WW2 era binoculars to to my collection.
I wanted to share this purchase, these are marked No2 MkII 6x30 Wollensak, Rochester NY made WW2 binoculars that have both U.S Army and Australian D/\D Department of Defense ownership markings. They have certainly seen action in their time and though I don't have provenance I can make an educated guess that these Binoculars came into Australian Army possession during the defense of Australia in Papua during 42-43.
This is the most likely period for these binoculars to have come into Australia possession when both Australian and U.S troops were in contact in New Guinea fighting the Japanese. At some point in time these were acquired by the Australian Army and put to use. They have been painted jungle green which also lends credence to the theater of operations ... that being PNG during 42-43.
The FJA marking is very interesting my information on the mark follows ...
FJA = Col. Frank J. Atwood was commanding officer of the Rochester Ordnance District; he personally inspected nothing, but as CO he was responsible for all the ordnance material accepted by the Army from that region. His initials appear on rifles and shotguns by Remington and Ithaca, as well as pistols by Ithaca and Remington Rand and military vehicles. The "FJA" stamp is NOT a rebuild mark; it was put on only at the original maker's factory
Anyway ... here's the pics. ( The manufacture markings are not scratched, they have been chalked in beneath the paint. )








My question is as follows ... there is a little section of the foam and black crackle covering that has been chipped off, likely from being dropped at some point. Does anybody have any advice on how to fill and repair this type of thing?
Any further information on these specific binoculars would be greatly appreciated, thank you!
Best, Tiki.