Considerations respecting miscellaneous curios—Battlefield souvenirs—Regimental colours—Odds and ends of dress equipment—Books and newspapers of military interest—Royal souvenirs—Official military documents—Gruesome relics—Relics of the Great War
Among the most acceptable military curios are those which may be classed as miscellaneous; they range from fragments of "Black Marias" to chocolate tins, and Prussian helmets to early copies of the Army List. Treasures which come under this head are to be found at almost every turn—in sale-rooms, in the shop windows of second-hand dealers, in cottages and mansions, in local museums—almost everywhere, in fact.
Curiously enough, the military treasures which may be described as miscellaneous are usually to be picked up very cheaply, for there is a much smaller demand for them than there is for such groups of things as medals, firearms, and armour and, of course, the price is regulated by the demand.
There is one axiom which must be always kept in view when purchasing odd military curios. It is not sufficient to know, in our own minds, that a certain article is genuine; we must know enough to be able to prove the fact to other collectors or else the "selling-price" value of the treasure will be little more than nothing. Of course, with such things as medals, autographs, weapons, etc., it is merely the work of an expert to say whether a certain specimen is genuine or not, but no amount of careful examination can ever decide the authenticity of a certain souvenir said to belong, perhaps, to Wellington, or the genuineness of a shot which was supposed to have caused the death of such and such a great soldier. Relics of this nature must be backed with good documentary evidence or their value can be but trifling. A case in point may be given by way of an example:—
A soldier recently showed the writer a pocket-knife, bearing the coat-of-arms of Cologne, which he picked up on the battlefield of Ypres. The soldier naturally valued the knife for its associations, but as a military curio its worth was no more than that of a second-hand, much used, pocket-knife since he could in no way prove how he found it.
For the sake of method, we have grouped the miscellaneous curios with which we shall deal under certain heads, the first of which is "Battlefield Souvenirs."
These trophies of war are, of course, full of interest; the present conflict has given us a good many specimens such as Prussian helmets, German infantry caps, and shells of various calibre. They should all be highly prized as long as they are in good condition and their identity can be established.
There are many interesting battlefield souvenirs to be seen in the Royal United Service Museum. One is the railway-station board from Tel-el-Kebir, which stood in the midst of the fighting on September 13, 1882, when the British, 17,000 strong, attacked and stormed Arabi's entrenchments defended by 22,000 Egyptians.
Another is a leaden ball found on the spot where Major-General James Wolfe received his mortal wound on the Plains of Abraham at the taking of Quebec, 1759.