These very interesting plaques were made to commemorate the heroic stand of the 101st Airborne in Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge. Heavily outnumbered, out of supply and already burnt out from too much time spent at the front the 101st held out doggedly against repeated German assaults designed at gaining the important crossroads town in the middle of their axis of advance during the Battle of the Bulge...

I have always liked battle damaged helmets as each is unique and certainly has its own personality. This one has anything one might look for; Early double decal (2nd decal ghost remains), some original finish and quite traumatic damage. This one is opened from the inside out and the rusting is even in the cracks so has obviously been like this for a long, long time. Personal friends have seen a lot of crazy stuff but this one still gets a good reaction from collecting veterans; A real looker.

Very cool and important piece of equipment for German mountain troops. Handle is stamped GJR 137 indicating this was issued to the Gebirgsjager Regiment 137 or 137th Mountain Infantry Regiment. This unit saw a lot of combat and is worth a quick search. The pick itself is in great shape with no damage found besides normal age wear (Please see photos). The head is maker marked STUBAI. Over the head is a leather protective cover in excellent shape dated 1938 and marked as made in Berlin...

Volume 1 of the classic series Uniforms, Organization and History of the Waffen SS by Bender and Taylor. Content is obvious from the title. This is one of the earlier, classic works in the collecting field. Significant enough that the forward was written by the simply huggable Otto Skorzeny.

Very nice pair of scarce large size black Italian shoulder boards. Gorgeous Italian bullion work on the fasces. No damage found except for the rub on one of the axe blades. Top notch example of a hard to find set.

Lovely Union Navy Civil War officer's sword by Pollard & Co, Boston MA. The true personality with this sword is that the fellow's name is engraved twice with the name John A Floyd. First on the scabbard and then on the top of the guard beside the USN casting. Both are done in different styles and both are undoubtedly original to the sword being the correct style, Sunken in and heavily patinated. I was only able to find him listed as a coxswain which is sort of a cool job...

This is an interesting Soviet banner. Looks to be for a competition winner presumably to workers performing at a superior rate. This type of banner is not terribly rare but this is the higher quality with made of a very pleasant red velvet. Instead of being screen printed this "deluxe" version has lettering that is nicely chain stitched and the profile of Lenin is a separate piece nicely bordered with 1/4 inch brown stitched border. Nice bright yellow fringe and cord...

Author signed 2 volume set and numbered in the first 200 sets produced. For whatever reason, until now there has never been a serious and exhaustive reference offered on the topic of sports and the Third Reich. Sports and athletics were a very important part of the pre-war movement and the author, Rob Newbrough, does a wonderful job of capturing this. Rob is a good friend and I was quite pleased to be able to contribute to the production of this set if even on a humble scale...

Really nice set of pink panzer oberst shoulder boards. Oberst is equivalent to a Colonel. Both boards are slip on variety and show no damage but gentle signs of age that should be expected. The buttons are an extra bonus. Gilt pips are very nicely sunk in on both sides. There is a hole on each board central to the two pips. Undoubtedly the fellow was a Oberstleutnant (Lieutenant Colonel) promoted and had to reconfigure his pips. I like this and it sort of adds another layer of personality...

French historical medal commemorating the storming of the Bastille in 1789. Medal by Jean-Bertrand Andrieu. There are some things the French are just better at then anyone else; Food, wine, fluffy dogs, storming spooky prisons and making big fancy medals. This impressive (If historically inaccurate) portrayal of the storming of the Bastille is really an impressive work of art. At about 79mm in diameter this is a large item and sure is an attention grabber...

Wonderful book on the 3rd Fallschirmjager Regiment. I can't say much beyond what the title says but this book is full of great information and great photos. Written in both English and German. I picked a few photo pages at random. There are MANY great photos in this book that covers just about every angle imaginable on the topic. Condition is close to mint, guaranteed not to disappoint.

Interesting medallion from the aircraft designing and manufacturing company founded by Tony Fokker. Fokker is most famous for his WWI aircraft used by Germany in WWI which were revolutionary in design. As is often the case with technological development, WWI greatly accelerated advancement of aircraft design and Fokker's planes were always in the forefront of this evolution. When WWI finally ended Fokker moved his company to his native Holland . This medallion commemorates 30 years of this compa...