Autographs 5 - On Militaria

Souvenirs of the wars are common for World Wars ! and II but are far more rare for the Boer War.

Signed souvenir "captures" are fabulously rare to find as is this fine example of war booty "liberated" by JRD McKerihen, and autographed by him in great detail on the war front in South Africa in 1900.

Go to James' signed belt

A fabulous signed duffle bag issued to Canadians who went to the Boer War in 1902.

Otto was taking no chances on having it stolen; he signed it boldly on two sides, as well as the bottom.

But one suspects this brash signature was also part of the growing up ritual of a young boy of 18, wanting to identify himself as a fully grown partner, among military men embarking on a dangerous mission.

This duffle bag has seen it all: was in the hold of the Milwaukee, the train from Cape Town to the front, and on who knows how many wagons; accompanied the Canadian Mounted Rifles as they chased Generals Koos de la Rey, and President Steyn across the Western Transvaal.

This bag is surprisingly small, about half the size of duffle bags issued in later wars.

The signature allows a benchmark that helps identify other duffle bags from the period, which have no signatures.

A fabulous signature on a belt that saw heavy campaigning against the Boers in the western Transvaal during the last months of the war, and was at the Battle of Hart's River, where Canada suffered the second heaviest casualties of the war.

Because this is tied to an actual person, time and place, this belt has an emotional wallop you can get in no other way.

It is stamped trooper # 48, D Squadron, Canadian Mounted Rifles, ie Otto Moody.

There are countless belts of this vintage that are unstamped and could be from anywhere or more likely - lacking identifiable provenance - nowhere.

As personal memorabilia they have little value.

A wonderfully stamped saddle wallet strap that belonged to Otto but is curiously stamped.

It is from Otto's 2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles regiment and marked as belonging to his own D troop, but from the 3rd Squadron.

Kit tended to wander.

This strap was a highly unique creation used specifically for wrapping around the leather wallets that were strapped at the front of the saddle.

Go to Otto Moody's Duffle Bag

Very rare indeed are these fabulous signed spurs that belonged to Otto Moody.

They already have tremendous provenance because they came with all his other signed equipment and letters.

But better than that they are stamped with his D troop letter on one of the straps.

They are the only spurs signed to a trooper we have ever come across, though we have unsigned spurs with attribution provenance to other cavalrymen.

Otto's experiences with horses are documented in his letters home to his sister, as he tells of how his first horse was stolen, and the joke played on him by his CMR mates who eagerly supplied him with a new one - it turned out to be a bucking bronco, which threw him repeatedly to the hearty laughter of his colleagues.

It's rare enough to find a Victorian army haversack, but to find one that is personally signed by the original owner is fabulous indeed.

The signature means it was on campaign with its owner and not just some militaria stores item that never went anywhere.

This haversack saw action with Otto and his regiment in the Boer War in 1902.

Signed binoculars come in several levels, with this stamped pair being among the most fabulous to find.

The inscribed signature of the North West Mounted Police, on the barrels, is rare to find, placing this pair into the period from 1873 to 1904.

This pair clearly served during Canada's wild west days, and perhaps accompanied the original force that went out to restore order as a result of an Indian massacre perpetuated by lawless American wolfers - looking like those below - at Cyprus Hills in southern Saskatchewan.

Left near Farwell's whiskey trader's fort left the lonely field where dozens of Assiniboine men, women, and children were massacred, resulting in the creation of Canada's national police force in 1873.

Go to RNWMP Binos

An especially fabulous find are the signed field glasses of Major Frederick Russell Burnham DSO, the celebrated American Indian fighter, and Lord Roberts' chief scout on his fabled March to Pretoria in the fall and winter of 1900.

These glasses were sold by someone who could not exactly decipher the inked signature, couldn't reference the name, and never discovered the stamp on the leather (which is very faint and hard to make out unless one is looking with a loupe.)

Good knowledge and sleuthing proved this to be a fantastic find belonging to a major soldier.

A personal stamping on binoculars or strap is a higher level of signature on binoculars. Fred probably had the camp shoeing smith stamp the strap for him to prevent theft.

Go to Major Burnham

A fabulous find are the binoculars of Boer War Major PE Gray of the Royal Horse Artillery, in their original signed case.

The personally signed binoculars are the highest level of signature you can get.

This signature even provides time and place, with the CIV aboard the liner Aurania. Shipping records confirm Gray aboard Aurania with that contingent.

Binoculars and telescopes played a bigger role in the Boer War than any previous war in history. Cordite to fire artillery shells thousands of yards, and high-powered Mauser rifles, which could fire accurately to a mile, meant death-dealing danger now could be miles from you. Spotting the enemy at long distances had never been more important.

For both sides. These glasses were probably taken from a dead Boer.

Gone were the days when no one was dangerous unless they were within the visible spectrum: spear-throwing distance or cannon ball range.

Go to Major Gray RHA

A fabulous find is a signed World War I gas alarm rattle that was used in the trenches by a Canadian soldier.

It makes a horrifically loud noise.

Poison gas was used by both sides in World War I as each tried to find the magic trick to give them the advantage to turn the stalemate on the Western Front to their advantage.

Being gassed resulted in a horrific choking kind of death, so warning rattles soon became standard equipment, hoping to give anyone within hearing range time to get their gas masks on.

JC Baker from Cookstown, Ontario, a World War I veteran who was lucky enough to return, kept his trench rattle as a souvenir of the most horrible time of his life. How many times did he use it as he saw gas drifting towards the lines?

His original signature had faded by the time he redid it with a feeble hand later in life.

It came from a family estate clearance.

Go to John Baker

A fabulous signed compass used by Canadian Bill Bolt, on the Western Front, during World War I, when he served as a lieutenant.

Signed items by themselves are fabulous. But when they are accompanied by a photo of the owner as well, it is beyond compare.

Go to Bill Bolt's other stuff

A most fabulous discovery is the signed bugle of Canadian Mounted Rifles Trooper Edwin McCormick.

It is stamped and dated 1901.

It is one of the rare bugles to be hand inscribed by the owner.

The two Boer names, from South Africa, are remote areas that Edwin's regiment, the CMR, was campaigning in early March 1902. At the Brackspruit it fought a major battle.

The combination of: the regimental history, Edwin's history, the stamping, dating, place this squarely as a Canadian bugle that might have been used in the war in 1901 or 1902.

The two Boer words scratched on the bell collar, related to places the Canadians campaigned in 1902. No one else than the CMR bugler Edwin McCormick fits all the variables relating to this bugle.

Go to Edwin McCormick

A fabulous bugle that is signed several ways as being a battlefield bugle. It is stamped by Henry Potter and dated 1916; it came directly from the family of Norman Pearson whose bugle it was during the Siberian adventures of the Canadian Army in World War I; it came with his dog tags.

With so many unsigned and fake bugles being hawked by eager sellers than ever before, finding this one with all its powerful provenance, makes this a rarity in the bugle field of authentic memorabilia, and a fabulous memento of a unique part of Canada's role in World War I..

Go to Norm Pearson in Siberia

There are an enormous number of bugles out there that are not signed or stamped, but which eager sellers purport to be from this or that regiment or this or that war.

Most are bogus.

Bugles that are not signed of stamped have minimal value as historical memorabilia items because they lack a traceable record, to a regiment, a campaign, a battle, or a person.

The bugles here show the kind of signature you should look for.

Army and cavalry bugles were stamped, often with the military crowfoot, with the manufacturer's imprint, also the year, and sometimes, the regiment or a dedication.

In very rare cases the owner scratched something personal on them, but this is seldom seen.

To find a bugle with a Canadian imprint, such as this fine bugle has, is very rare.

This RS Williams bugle from Toronto has the coveted C for Canada surrounding a military crowfoot.

We have only seen two bugles marked this way in 10 years.

Go to Canadian Bugles

Presentation bugles are a very special kind of memorabilia because they can be tied to real people and a real time and place, with through the inscription, makes the attribution to Dr Molloy of Blackpool right foolproof.

The wear on this inscription shows it is as old as the bugle itself so not a later bogus addition by a cunning forger.

And it does happen. UK police investigators from Liverpool enquired about any information we could provide regarding an offer we had made on a bugle with an inscription which we had backed out of, fearing it was bogus.

It turned out the buyer who bought it reached the same conclusion and so did the police after hearing our side.

They went after the seller - a major UK memorabilia dealer - for fraud.

This inscription is the real deal.

Go to Dr Molloy

A fabulous reminder that the horse played a key role in the development of western Canada.

This numbered hoof belonged to a Victorian member of the North West Mounted Police. It probably died or was killed during police work on the prairies.

It came from an estate in a lot that included NWMP badges, horse bits, and other memorabilia from a time when the Mounties were the only law and order on the western frontier.

Go to the Sentimental Mountie

A fabulous signed horse's hoof inkwell from the Boer War

It belonged to Capt. Harold Fielden DSO, member of a prominent Yorkshire family, who had his medal presented to him by King Edward VII, on Oct. 29, 1901.

Many Victorian officers had inkwell memorabilia made of some favourite horse that was killed during their campaigning.

For centuries the horse carried the fight to the enemy on the battlefield with either a cavalryman or a gunner riding them into the jaws of hell. Hence the close ties between a fighting man and a fighting horse sealed with a hoof memento of a partnership going back thousands of years.

By the time World War I came along a dozen years later the horse as a fighting animal was a thing of the past.

The horse had been reduced to a transport animal for pulling wagons and guns behind the lines. And even this task was being taken over by gasoline powered trucks.

The horse was being withdrawn from modern battlefields.

Now if we could only do the same with men...

Go to Horse Hooves