Ammunition Belt Item Number: 3480/4 from the MOA: University of British Columbia

Description

Leather ammunition belt, with fifty open-ended pockets across its surface for individual bullets. Belt fastens with a metal buckle, attached with a leather tab. Tab is covered by the belt loop. Opposite end of belt is made of a narrow strip of leather, with five adjustment holes along it. Holes are spaced out, at equal intervals, and lined with metal. Entire exterior surface of belt is covered in brocaded decoration. Background is pale orange, with designs overtop done in golden brown. Geometric motifs along all belt edges and edges of pockets. Designs across pockets, belt loop and area around adjustment holes are curvilinear and floral. Back of belt is undecorated.

Narrative

Acquired by the donor's grandfather, who was an Italian civil servant in Italian occupied Ethiopia; thought to have been collected by him in the 1930s.