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Memorabilia > Colonial & CIVIL WAR era through 1880s AMERICANA
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Our goal is to provide maximum buying potential and buyer confidence for the advanced and casual enthusiast. Visitors are encouraged to browsing our full inventory while those limited by time or specific interest may utilize our word search to locate specific items or categories. (Always use lower case for best search engine results.)
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SEARCH FOR CATEGORY GROUPS & SPECIFIC ITEMS Visitors to our online shop are encouraged to scroll from page to page and enjoy browsing the wide variety of our full inventory or to utilize search to view specific categories or offerings. Enter a single word or key words and phrases. ( Always use lower case for best results. ) We hope you find our catalog informative, entertaining and fruitful. |
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Visitors to our online shop are encouraged to scroll from page to page and enjoy browsing the wide variety of our full inventory or to utilize the word search by entering key words and phrases. ( Always use lower case for best search engine results. ) We hope you find our catalogue informative, entertaining and fruitful. |
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6244
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Civil War Reconstruction era beaver – Pollard & Leighton - Military Shako
We’ll depend on our photo illustration to provide the physical description of this attractive Reconstruction era except to advise that it is in excellent condition as you can see with a beaver body and exceptionally nice leather to include its original chin strap with Civil War vintage Eagle I buttons. The shako retains its early style 2 inch wide split leather sweat band with the maker label of Pollard & Leighton MILITARY GOODS 104 Tremont St., Boston. (Pollard & Leighton Co. formed sometime after 1863 and dissolved in 1872.) Buy with confidence! We are pleased to offer a no questions asked three day inspection with return as purchased on direct sales! Just send us a courtesy e-mail to let us know your item will be returned per these provisions and your purchase price will be refunded accordingly. Thanks for visiting Gunsight Antiques!
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6070
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rare! U. S. Army Pack Train - LEAD CAMEL BELL
This attractive cast bronze collar bell measures approximately 5 13/16 inches across the mouth and stands about 5 1/8 inches high with a patriotic panoply of American Eagles with shield, banner and star bursts. This rarely encountered large Lead Camel bell offers desirable evidence of age and good period use as assurance of originality yet remains in excellent condition with no cracks or flaws. A small period ground toning mark at the rim (see illustration) offers the best evidence of actual period field use as each lead bell was toned to offer a unique sound so as to be disenable, one from another. Cast under contract in three sizes for the U. S. Army Quarter Master Corps, an account of their origin along with a complete set, to include a rare large lead camel bell, may be seen in the U. S. Army Quartermaster Museum collection at Fort Lee Virginia. While there are surely more out there, this offering of the rarely encountered largest size, is only the third of such that we have observed in our fifty plus years of traveling the Country in search of such treasures (1 in the Q. M. Museum, 1 in our own collection and this example).
The odd experiment of the U. S. Camel Corps was spawned in 1855 by Secretary of War, Jefferson Davis and would continue for approximately seven years as the strange hump-back creatures made their way back and forth across Texas and the southwestern deserts of New Mexico, Arizona and California. The ill-tempered beasts were trained to follow the lead or Bell Camel during long marches from Texas to the West coast until finally in 1863 Secretary of War Edwin Stanton ordered the camels sold. It seems by period accounts that while good and reliable as beasts of burden, temperament and odder were beyond even Army tolerance.
There is record of at least one of the discarded camels falling into Confederate service when Gen. Sterling Price, used one to carry company baggage until it was shot by a Union skirmisher at Vicksburg. There is good evidence via Civil War site excavation that the bells were pressed into use by the Union Army during the Civil War with collectors of that era referring to the artifacts as Union Cavalry Bells, see: Dr. Francis Lord’s Civil War Collectors Encyclopedia. (NOTE: Collectors are cautioned that modern cast reproductions of the smaller bells are showing up. Like most cast reproductions however, they are generally easily discernible to the experienced eye but a telltale indication of a reproduction is that they utilize screws in the top to secure the strap holder while originals are a pressed fit.)
Buy with confidence! We are pleased to offer a no questions asked three day inspection with return as purchased on direct sales! Just send us a courtesy e-mail to let us know your item will be returned per these provisions and your purchase price will be refunded accordingly. Thanks for visiting Gunsight Antiques!
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6077
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antique FINGER LAMP
Standing roughly 6 ¼ inches from base to the top of its period original glass chimney, this nice old finger lamp is fashioned from nickel plated spun brass. While the nickel finish would polish to bright we have left that choice to the buyer (horrors!), offering the lamp here pure and as found with its natural atticfinish and good evidence of age, period use and originality. Will fit nicely in any Civil War or mid to later 1800s grouping. Buy with confidence! We are pleased to offer a no questions asked three day inspection with return as purchased on direct sales! Just send us a courtesy e-mail to let us know your item will be returned per these provisions and your purchase price will be refunded accordingly. Thanks for visiting Gunsight Antiques!
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60129
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extra nice period bridle leather FLAG BEARER SLING
Constructed from heavy 1/8 thick by 1 ½ inch wide bridle leather with a stout brass roller buckle and utilizing period indicative copper rivet & washer fasteners (see photos), this 19th century flag bearer sling remains in exceptional condition. Offered as found and untouched to preserve veracity as a period sling, this piece remains pliable and without age cracking yet offers good evidence of period age and construction. Left as a decision for the new owner this piece will restore to near as new with a bit of proper dressing. A nice item for the Civil War and Indian War collector at a reasonable price. Buy with confidence! We are pleased to offer a no questions asked three day inspection with return as purchased on direct sales! Just send us a courtesy e-mail to let us know your item will be returned per these provisions and your purchase price will be refunded accordingly. Thanks for visiting Gunsight Antiques!
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6272
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Civil War vintage Artificial Leg attributed to Charles. E. Burns – 12th Mass. Infantry
Another treasure from a back corner of our 50+ year accumulation where we have had an affinity for squirrelling away relics as fodder for future research. We acquired this well used but still intact SALEM LEG Co. prostheses some years ago at the legendary old Brimfield Antique Market in Brimfield, Mass. Laid out on a table in the early morning light along with a myriad of papers, books and other culch from the Burns family in Salem, Mass. was this vintage artificial leg. As the table proprietor peered at me over his steaming coffee cup, he advised upon my inquiry that all this stuff had come together from a Salem clean-out. The family had advised that the leg had been used by Charles Burns who according to family lore had lost his leg in the Civil War. Clearly a scarcely surviving Civil War vintage prostheses, which was worthy in and of itself, the coffee drinker’s account seemed realistic to us given other items on the table with the Burns family name, so we purchased the piece, brought it home, stuffed a notation of the name in the leg socket and leaned the relic in a corner of the barn for future study. That had to be nearly 30 years ago! Some advantage though, for as we dug it out recently we found ourselves in a new age, a time when by the wonders of the internet we can assemble a mere scrap of knowledge as to the relic’s origin, plug it into the internet and voila! we have the following!
Charles E. Burns was a 21 year old sailmaker resident of Salem, Massachusetts when on June 26, 1861 he enlisted and was mustered in as a Private of Co. D 12th Mass. Volunteer Infantry . As such he would have seen action at Ball’s Bluff, Winchester, Gaines Mill, Cedar Mountain and at Thoroughfare Gap before he fell severely wounded on the field at 2nd Bull Run. Pvt Burns would for a time be considered a POW (see illustrated POW Certificate) as he lay on Confederate controlled ground and would be counted among 79 killed or wounded, 9 POWs, and 46 missing in action members of the 12th Mass. Eventually carried from the field, Co. rolls would none the less record Pvt. Burns as wounded and missing in action for a time before the September / October, 1862 Co. Muster records as Absent in Hospt. from wounds received Aug. 30 at Bull Run Va. (see illustration). Pvt. Burns is recorded in the Civil War Medical / Surgical History Part III, Volume II as having a double flap amputation of the right leg performed by Surgeon J. H. Baxter U. S. V. Finally discharged on July 11, 1863, Burns returned to his native Salem where he became a member of the local Phillip H. Sheridan Post No. 34, GAR. Evidently pleased with his locally manufactured SALEM LEG Co. prosthesis Burns wrote the wrote them in 1870 extolling the virtues of their product which he had begun to wear since the summer of 1863 and had been in almost constant use ever since. The Salem Leg Co. chose to publish their local patron’s testimonial in their period brochure. (see illustration) Charles E. Burnes died in Salem in 1916.
Measuring approximately 32 inches in total length, this piece offers the eye appeal of age and originality with good evidence of period use while remaining sound and functional. (A note about our document illustrations: A documents illustrated are images from internet or research DVD sources. Digital images for printing may be provided to the buyer upon request. The image of the unknown amputee is from our own clip-art files.) Buy with confidence! We are pleased to offer a no questions asked three day inspection with return as purchased on direct sales! Just send us a courtesy e-mail to let us know your item will be returned per these provisions and your purchase price will be refunded accordingly. Thanks for visiting Gunsight Antiques!
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5871
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original! Civil War era ROSEWOOD DRUMSTICKS
Our photos will likely do best to describe these nice rosewood drumsticks except to advise that they measure approximately 17 inches in length and show good evidence of age and period use yet remain in excellent original condition. A nice companion piece with a Civil War vintage drum. please note: ALL ITEMS ARE CURRENT & AVAILABLE UNLESS MARKED SOLD!! Thanks for visiting Gunsight Antiques !!
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60138
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original antique - Naughty Nellie Boot Jack
Said to be a favorite with late 1800s / early 1900s bunkhouse cowboys with their Western pull off boots, this hard to find all original and period example of Nellie remains in excellent condition with its original paint save a bit of wear to the high spots. Not to be confused with the plethora of late copies out there, there is little need for further description beyond a look at our photo illustrations. Buy with confidence! We are pleased to offer a no questions asked three day inspection with return as purchased on direct sales! Just send us a courtesy e-mail to let us know your item will be returned per these provisions and your purchase price will be refunded accordingly. Thanks for visiting Gunsight Antiques!
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6270
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scarce original 1886 printing! Camp-Fire Chats of the Civil War by Washington Davis
Long considered one of the most significant personal records of the Civil War, this hard to find original 1886 printing of Washington Davis’s Camp-Fire Chats of the Civil War offers firsthand accounts of ‘Adventure and Wayside Exploit of the Bivouac and Battle Field, as Related by Veteran Soldiers Themselves : Embracing the Tragedy, Romance, Comedy, Humor and Pathos in the Varied Experiences of Army Life’ and has been considered a must have on the book shelf of the GAR collector for its History of the Grand Army of the Republic from formation to the 1886, 20th National Encampment at San Francisco. Widely reprinted for its depth of information and reflections of personal experiences as well as activities of the Civil War veteran’s grand old G. A. R., original printings are seldom offered in nice condition. This 420 page illustrated original remains in pleasing condition with minimal evidence of period handling while remaining tight at the binding and complete with no missing, marked up or otherwise damaged pages. A nice addition to any Civil War library.
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5972-1578928802
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Hotel Glenwood (Colorado home of Dock Holliday) - BAR TOKEN
A bit out of our usual fare but a neat piece of Americana is this 23mm die struck HOTEL GLENWOOD BAR merchant token GOOD FOR 12 ½ c. (Shown here with a quarter for size comparison.) Located in Glenwood Spring, Colorado the Hotel Glenwood opened in 1887 as a two story wood structure but was over the years was destined to become an ornate three story attraction of seventy-five rooms accommodating as many as two hundred guests. The Glenwood attracted the elite of the day attracting such well known of the period as gambler, gunfighter, and dentist John DocHolliday. After splitting with Wyatt Earp, an ailing Holliday took up residence in Glenwood Springs, Colorado where his health continued to deteriorate. Doc Holliday died of tuberculosis at the Hotel Glenwood in 1887. A nice piece of Western Americana and a neat companion piece to set in any gambling or Wild West grouping. Buy with confidence! We are pleased to offer a no questions asked three day inspection with return as purchased on direct sales! Just send us a courtesy e-mail to let us know your item will be returned per these provisions and your purchase price will be refunded accordingly. Thanks for visiting Gunsight Antiques!
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3141
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early handcrafted SHOE HORN
Just the thing for the early foot wear’s collector or personal item enthusiast of the American colonial period through the Civil War and Western frontier days, this little home made shoe horn measures just over 4 ½ inches long. Fashioned by hand from a cow horn, this neat little piece remains in fine condition with a rich natural age patina. A nice little every day utility sized to fit travel case, carpet bag or haversack. ( Illustrated here with a Civil War vintage quarter for size comparison. )
Manufacturer: handcrafted American antique
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60116
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original ! Civil War pro Abolition- ‘Learning is Wealth’- Freedman's Relief Association - CDV
Offered here is a desirable, all original, circa 1864 abolitionist White Slave, Freedman's Relief Association CDV. Entitled LEARNING IS WEALTH - Wilson, Charley, Rebecca, & Rosa. Slaves from New Orleans, this photograph by Charles Paxson of New York was entered according to an Act of Congress in 1864 by S. Tackaberry. Printed on the reverse is: The net proceeds from the sale of these photographs will be devoted to the education of Colored People in the department of the gulf, now under the command of Major General Banks. Depicted is African American former slave WILSON reading a book to three former slave children who have very fair skin. (Experienced collectors will recognize Wilson as having photographed in 1863 as the Branded Louisiana Slave) . In 1863, the National Freedman's Association / American Missionary Association commenced a campaign to raise sympathy for former slave children with fund-raising photographs, such as this depicting former slave children of light complexion in an effort to persuade U.S. citizens to support abolition. Elusive original images from this campaign have become prized among today’s collectors. Remaining in pleasing, all original condition with good contrast, our photo illustrations will offer the best description of condition. Buy with confidence! We are pleased to offer a no questions asked three day inspection with return as purchased on direct sales! Just send us a courtesy e-mail to let us know your item will be returned per these provisions and your purchase price will be refunded accordingly. Thanks for visiting Gunsight Antiques!
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60162
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earlier to mid-1800s pocket SNUFF BOX
Best described by our illustrations, this attractive little mahogany snuff box remains in pleasing all original and as found condition with good evidence of age, period use and originality even retaining remnants of tobacco snuff from its last use. Buy with confidence! We are pleased to offer a no questions asked three day inspection with return as purchased on direct sales! Just send us a courtesy e-mail to let us know your item will be returned per these provisions and your purchase price will be refunded accordingly. Thanks for visiting Gunsight Antiques!
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3786
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Medal of Honor - 46th Mass. CIVIL WAR Vet’s 8 RIBBON GROUP
Offered here from a small cash of Co. A 46th Mass. Regimental Association ribbons emanating from Congressional Medal of Honor winner and association Commander, Andrew S. Bryant are eight ribbons beginning with a fine circa 1880 ribbon that doubled as a pass to the festivities. The ribbon bears the identification Com. A. S. Andrews, Co. A 46 M. V. M. on the back with the following in gold print on the face Co. A. Association, 46th Regt. M.V.M., sixth annual, REUNION AND CLAM BAKE, at Callup’s Grove, Wednesday, July 21, 1880, show this badge at the boat and tables, STEAMER RIVER BELL, Will leave pier one, foot of State Street, half past one o’clock P. M. sharp. The group contains seven additional ribbons, one each for the 9th, 10th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 18th and finally the 23rd reunion held September 25, 1895. These ribbons came together from among Andrew Bryant’s things left from when he was Commander of the 46th Mass Veteran Association and are in excellent condition after decades of storage.
Andrew Symmes Bryant was a 21 year old banker in Springfield Mass. when he enlisted and mustered in on August 15, 1862 as a Sergeant of Co. A 46th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. Bryant would be promoted to Sgt. Major and was awarded the Medal of Honor for bravery on the field at the Battle of New Bern, North Carolina on May 23, 1863. His citation reads: The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Sergeant Andrew Symmes Bryant, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism on 23 May 1863, while serving with Company A, 46th Massachusetts Infantry, in action at New Bern, North Carolina. By his courage and judicious disposition of his guard of 16 men, stationed in a small earthwork at the head of the bridge, Sergeant Bryant held in check and repulsed for a half hour a fierce attack of a strong force of the enemy, thus probably saving the city New Bern from capture.
After the Civil War Bryant returned to Springfield where he was an active member of the Co. A 46th MVM Veteran Association and GAR Post 16. He died on October 6, 1931 and rests in Springfield Cemetery, Springfield, Massachusetts. A really nice Civil War veteran group with association to one of the war’s Medal of Honor recipients. You will be well pleased with the condition of the old man’s ribbons.
Buy with confidence! All direct sales are backed by no questions asked three day inspection with return as purchased ! Just send us a courtesy e-mail to let us know your item is being returned per these previsions and your purchase price will be refunded accordingly.
Manufacturer: American antique
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4485
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Confederate Navy identified: c.1852 New American Practical Navigator
With lots of good evidence of period use and some age foxing and light staining, this 1852 edition of The New American Practical Navigator by Nathaniel Bowditch remains complete in its 458 pages with the additional page of advertisements and fold out chart all with no tears or repairs. On the inside front cover is the small period stationers label of J. S. Kellogg DEALER IN Books & Stationary, Mobile, Alabama. On the flyleaf a the bold period brown ink signature J. D. Johnston with a pencil notation: C.S.S. Tennessee. Well accounted for in such early histories as DeLeon’s Navies in War and the Confederate Navy in the War Between the States and such as Addresses Delivered Before the Confederate Veterans Association of Savannah by United Confederate Veterans, Georgia Division and the Official Records of the Confederate Navy, James D. Johnston is recorded as Commander Provisional Navy, June 2, 1864, to rank from Oct. 4, 1863; Comm. C. S. S. Baltic 1861-63. Johnston was second in command of the iron clad ram C. S. S. Tennesseeunder Admiral Buchanan at the Battle of Mobile Bay where he was captured Aug.5 1864; prisoner at Ft. Warren; exchanged, Oct. 18, 1864; Mobile Station, 1864-65; surrendered May 4, 1865; paroled May 10, 1865. (Note: Capt. Johnston’s Confederate Navy sword is housed in the Hargrett Manuscripts Library Museum, University of Georgia; col:# ms508(m).) We found an 1896 obituary account as follows: J. D. Johnston died at Savannah, Ga., age 98; he is said to have been the surviving ranking officer of the Confederate Navy and the senior ranking officer by date of commission of the old United States Navy. Previous to the Civil War Johnston served in the U. S. Navy as Midshipman 30 June 1832; Passed Midshipman 23 June 1838; Lt. 34 June 1843. He resigned to join the Confederacy 10 April 1861. A neat item for the Confederate States Navy enthusiast. Buy with confidence! We are pleased to offer a no questions asked three day inspection with return as purchased on direct sales! Just send us a courtesy e-mail to let us know your item will be returned per these provisions and your purchase price will be refunded accordingly. Thanks for visiting Gunsight Antiques!
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6269
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well-equipped 4th New Hampshire Infantry - ¼ plate ‘ruby-glass’ AMBROTYPE with hair MOURNING PIN
Easily identifiable as 4th New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry by the nomenclature on his cap and the 4th N. H. V. issue Belgian copy of, or French Mod. 1842, .69 cal. musket, (see: An Introduction to Civil War Small Arms by Earl J. Coates & Dean S. Thomas) our man stands before the photographer’s lens with full complement of cartridge box and waist belt with cap box and bayonet scabbard. Though not legible in the photo but indicative of the 4th New Hampshire, are regimental markings on his canteen. An especially well posed and equipped New Hampshire Civil War troop with the depth and quality of the ruby-glass process, this desirable ¼ plate is offered from an old collection still housed in its Littlefield – Parsons & Co. Patent 1856 and 1857 gutta percha case. (Solid and in pleasing condition but with some expected edge chipping.) Lost in time is the significance of the hair mourning pin still mounted on the velvet inside cover. Clearly period original to the case and image, the T- back pin houses intwined light and dark hair of two individuals as was the period practice when memorializing the loss of a spouse. Buy with confidence! We are pleased to offer a no questions asked three day inspection with return as purchased on direct sales! Just send us a courtesy e-mail to let us know your item will be returned per these provisions and your purchase price will be refunded accordingly. Thanks for visiting Gunsight Antiques!
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