There are one or two kinds of military curios which we should not attempt to collect. First, we should avoid all such large objects as take up more house-room than we can afford to spare them, and secondly, we should refrain from accepting objects the genuineness of which it is impossible to verify. Concerning this latter class, it may be appropriate to mention that we have never visited the battlefield of Waterloo without meeting a particularly eloquent man who always tells us that he has just had the good fortune to dig up some trophy or other of the famous fight. Naturally he is prepared to let us share in his good fortune, and consequently names a price for the article. Needless to say, the country of origin of the trophy is Germany, and the date of construction some time in the twentieth century. Probably, other battlefields besides the one at Waterloo are infested with unscrupulous curio vendors, so that the collector will be well advised if he refrains from purchasing any article unless properly authenticated—especially on battlefields.
QUEEN VICTORIA'S CHOCOLATE BOX SENT TO THE SOLDIERS FIGHTING IN SOUTH AFRICA, 1900.
PRINCESS MARY'S CHRISTMAS BOX SENT TO THE SOLDIERS FIGHTING IN FRANCE AND BELGIUM, 1914.
In many branches of collecting comprehensive catalogues have been published which enable the student to classify, arrange, and price every piece among his treasures. With military curios, however, no such publications exist, but a very useful guide is the official catalogue issued by the Royal United Service Museum in Whitehall. The Museum itself is well worth frequent visits, for it is only by constant inspection of such exhibits as those displayed in this gallery that we can get to know of the existence of certain curios and of the shape, texture, and pattern of others. The Museum possesses particularly fine exhibits of medals, even of the earlier types; of uniforms, especially head-pieces; of regimental banners, and such weapons as swords and rifles.
The United Service Museum is by no means the only treasure-house of interest to collectors of military curios. The Tower of London, the Wallace Collection, and the Rotunda at Woolwich, each possess much that is worth inspecting in the way of armour and weapons, whilst the British Museum has a collection of medals which is almost unique. The traveller on the Continent will find many instructive exhibits in the Musée d'Artillerie at Paris, the Rijks Museum at Amsterdam, and the National Museum at Copenhagen.