Antiques around the clock: War memorabilia
by Bob Becker |
This column may lose some of my female readers. The only caveat I
can give is that knowledge is king, so if you plan on buying and
selling antiques you might want to give a read. We will not be covering
any arms since it is a subject all by itself. War memorabilia,
unfortunately, goes back to the cave man days. Back then, weapons were
multipurpose, being used for putting food on the table or defense. I
will also avoid covering very old or ancient items, since you probably
won’t run into them very often. But I do remember an Antiques Road Show
where a woman brought in a Spanish officer’s helmet that she discovered
stuck in the rafters of the attic and later sold at an auction for six
figures.
Revolutionary War items are very valuable. Most of them were
handmade, especially the items used by the colonial army. Most canteens
were made out of wood or leather. The memorabilia that brings the big
bucks are those that were individualized (usually by the owner) with
his name, state, regiment, battles fought in or pictures of guns,
cannons or flags. The more decorative, and complete with
information, the more valuable it is. This also goes for bullet molds
and pouches, powder horns, drums, belts, letters, baggage or anything
the mind could devise as being used by the soldier. Condition is always
important in assessing worth, but since they are over 200 years old it
isn’t paramount (but, the better the condition, the more it’s worth).
American items are far more valuable than French or British items.
It is very difficult to separate items from the War of 1812 from the
Revolutionary War, since they were only a few years apart and the
equipment was still mostly hand made. Only the items that are well
marked can be attributed to this conflict.
It is easier to identify items from the Mexican War, as most of the
materials were being manufactured in the United States, but rarer since
it was a short war. The army was more formalized with most of the
materials being issued with marks on them to identify them as property
of the Army (if the item wasn’t destroyed the army wanted it back, and
if you didn’t return it, they wanted to know why, apparently war was
not an excuse). Improvements in steel, powder, percussion caps,
leather, cloth and brass made for different looks in the finish of
items. Uniforms were more standardized since we were starting the
Industrial Revolution in 1848. Today’s West Point cadet dress uniforms
are similar to the ones worn by the Army during this war.
There is much interest in the Civil War, since it involved so many
Americans. Union forces were equipped with more standardized items,
since the north was a great manufacturing complex at the beginning of
the conflict and expanded exponentially as the war continued. The large
amount of materials involved made this one of the most popular wars for
people to collect items from. The most valuable items are usually from
the Confederacy. Lacking the North’s manufacturing capacity, much of
the southern items were hand made or imported from England and France.
This importation didn’t set too well with the Union, since splitting up
the United States was to the advantage of England and France. Many
standoffs at sea between union warships and foreign shipping destined
for the S\outh brought the union to the brink of war with England and
France many times. Regimental flags abounded. These are very valuable
today and are rarely found outside museums. Some items are confused as
being from the Civil War when they actually were souvenirs of the
various postwar encampments of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) or
the United Confederate Veterans (UCV). The last encampment of the GAR
was 1949 and the last veteran died in 1956. The last encampment of the
UCV was 1928 and the last veteran died in 1958. Does this mean the
South really won after all? Items from these encampments have value,
but much less than memorabilia from the actual conflict. Anything from
the Civil War has value, even correspondence from soldiers or
politicians detailing camp life, battles, conditions, stores and prison
life.
In my next column, I will try to bring us into modern times.
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