Militaria

Just to let you know that the trunk Judith spoke about on her Saturday post went for $2,300 after atracting fourteen bids.

A trunk belonging to Lt. Col. Edward Mathey of the U.S. 7th Cavalry is to be auctioned today at the Burley Auction Gallery in New Braunfels Texas. The officer was part of Custer’s Little Big Horn troops although he was detached from the main battle, which is why he survived. The handmade wooden trunk that stored his possessions went with the cavalryman everywhere he was posted during his long career. It still bears his name and those of the numerous forts where he was posted in nearly 30 years of service. "It could go for anywhere from $4,000 to $10,000," said a spokesman. "It really depends on what it might be worth to someone. I think it's a national treasure."

I've already mentioned the Smith & Wilde militeria auction at the Leeds Royal Armouries Museum, which takes place on 5 September. Browsing through their online catalogue I came across this interesting poster. My first reaction was how inexpensive the estimate of £10 – £30 for three posters is; then I noticed that they are listed as copies, which probably explains it. However, my second reaction was to notice that this is not a WW2 poster but one that dates from the Great War. It's not dated of course but it displays a Zeppelin bomber rather than an aircraft that would have been used in WW2.

In the First World War London was first bombed in May 1916, albeit accidentally, and before the year was out there had been over twenty more raids directed against various cities, but mostly London, in which almost 300 people were killed and 700 injured. Raids gradually decreased as the air defences improved but in all 550 were killed by air raids and by the time the last one occurred in August 1918 almost 6,000 bombs had been dropped which had also injured a further 1,400 people. While these raids had little significance in military terms they did raise the spectre of fear in the build up to the Second World War, they were also a major contributory factor towards the evacuation of so many children on the first weekend of World War Two.

On 23 July  a sword that may have seen action at the Battle of Culloden is being sold by Bonhams at their sale of antique arms and armour in London. The very rare cavalry backsword belonged to a trooper of the Fitzjames Regiment of Irish Horse who were in French service from the mid-18th century. They had been sent to Scotland to serve with Charles Stuart, the Young Pretender, Bonnie Prince Charlie’s army. They landed at Aberdeen in February 1746 , later a  squadron fought at Culloden, with a troop providing the escort for Prince Charles. After the battle they escorted the prince from the field and the troop was dismissed with orders to surrender to the Duke of Cumberland.

David Williams, of Bonhams, said it was possible the sword saw action at Culloden. “This is a particularly interesting moment — following the recent Irish rejection of the Treaty of Lisbon — to remember that for many years the Irish were staunch supporters of the French in their many European wars. This sword is a powerful reminder of that battle-tested relationship. It is a strange irony that today it is the Irish who have put the EC bandwagon on hold.” The sword has an estimate of £2000 - £3,000