Our new militaria catalog will open Monday at 3:00 PM US central time.
Click here to find out what time this is where you live.
The highlights of Catalog 76 include a WWI French and WWI German collection assembled over the last 30+ years by our good friend and former business partner Bill Combs. These collections focus heavily on the German ’Ersatz’ and French ’Material de Fortune’ equipment that was pressed into service (sometimes literally) as these two nations struggled to equip the men who answered the call to arms in 1914 and early 1915. Bill’s collection contains more than a few ’once-in-a-lifetime’ items, ranging from an extremely sexy original first pattern M.1907 enlisted issue field gray tunic, to pieces that are more mundane but almost never found in private collections such as the French soldier’s issue can opener and its wooden carrier. If you collect Western Front WWI material, this is a catalog you will NOT want to miss.
Catalog 76 will be a bit unusual for us on the US WWI side. Normally there are somewhere between 20 and 50 WWI US ’doughboy’ uninforms or uniform groups to choose from, this time there are only 12. What they lack in quantity, though, they more than make up for in quality. These are all uniforms from soldiers of the US 92nd and 93rd Divisions! In addition to these uniforms, we have several helmets, shoulder insignias, collar discs, trench art, and other items from black soldiers serving in the segregated Army from the Spanish-American War through the 1920’s.
There are actually more WWII US than WWI US items this time, mostly items from a WWII US ration collection and 10th Mountain Division collection that recently arrived at AGM.
This by no means is the end of it, either. In addition, we have a nice selection of Japanese WWII inert ordnance, the new Verlag Militaria French WWI and German 1871-1914 reference books, and the Trench Art section is back - featuring among other nice pieces the Trench Art Grandfather clock that was formerly displayed in the War Museum in Dadizelle Belgium.
Catalog 76 contains 750 items; everything from $1 bits of insignia to investment-grade museum pieces. Wherever your collecting interests are, I am sure you will enjoy shopping this catalog as much as we did putting it together!
PLEASE NOTE:
To be fair to everyone (and to allow us time to hunt down and fix any remaining bugs) We will not be taking any phone calls on Monday prior to 3:00 PM. The catalog will open at 3:00 and not a moment before - nothing will be sold prior to that time.
We look forward to hearing from you on Monday!
Jeff
www.advanceguardmilitaria.com By the way - if you know Mr. Combs and the fact that he sold this collection causes you to have concern for him; fear not. All is well with Bill. He has simply decided to focus his efforts on his current passion: Spanish uniforms, headgear, arms, equipment, and insignia from the Spanish-American war. Most of these items that exist are here in the US, as they were brought home by American soldiers as war souvenirs. So, if you know of any War of 1898 Spanish items that might be available - let us know and we will put you in contact with Bill. He is especially interested in good period photos from Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines.
JS