Preliminary considerations—Where to search for curios—What to search for—Specializing—Undesirable curios—The catalogue of the Royal United Service Museum—Public collections of military curios

For centuries past the collection of military curios has been the select pastime of men of title and soldiers of rank. Lately, however, owing to the War and the great spread of interest in all things pertaining to it, the circle of collectors has considerably widened, until to-day few things are more treasured by connoisseurs than the thousand and one souvenirs and emblems which emanate from our Army.

Most forms of collecting require the expenditure of much capital, but this is not one of the drawbacks which confront the seeker after military curios. For a few pence an old-fashioned bayonet can be picked up; a rifle bearing a date in last century will cost but a trifle more, whilst such odds and ends as badges and tunic buttons may be had for almost nothing.

Of course, a good deal depends on knowing where to search for treasures. The old curiosity shops are capital hunting-grounds, but second-hand dealers who make a practice of buying up the contents of whole houses are even better. These people seem to get an accumulation of odd material which is difficult to classify, and therefore hard to sell. It is hidden away among these effects that the collector will probably alight upon his finest discoveries.

Some of our own experiences in the matter of bargain finding may be worth detailing. At Rag Fair, last Christmas, we were asked half a guinea for six perfect but very much begrimed medals, one of which was for the Defence of Lucknow. Needless to add, the set was worth many pounds when cleaned and fitted with fresh ribbons. On a stall in Farringdon Road we recently picked up a few helmet badges, some of which bore the old regimental numbers used prior to 1881, at twopence apiece. And elsewhere a few weeks back we chanced upon a bag full of military buttons, for which the dealer asked a shilling.

If we wish to form our collections quickly the best plan will be to get in touch with one of the first-class firms who regularly keep an exhaustive stock of military curios, and who can supply almost anything we need; but for our part we prefer to enter upon the work slowly and pick up treasures here and there at tempting prices. Doubtless there are capital hunting-grounds where bargains may be found in almost every town, but in London our favourite haunts are Rag Fair, held on Fridays in the Caledonian Meat Market; the stalls in Farringdon Road, Hounsditch, and Middlesex Street; the shops in Praed Street; and, lastly, Charing Cross Road—the latter only for books and prints. Of course a good deal of material may be obtained cheaply by keeping an eye on the bargain advertisements found in certain newspapers. The Bazaar, Exchange and Mart, for instance, regularly contains notices of guns, medals, autographs, and such-like objects for sale, often at prices ridiculously low. It is thus clear that there is no lack in the sources of supply if only we can get in touch with them.

With many forms of collecting there is a certain sameness about the things collected which is apt to produce monotony: with military curios, however, the treasures cover so wide a field that no such drawback can exist. The following list will give a fair idea of the different objects which come within our present range:—

Medals, helmet and cap-badges, tunic buttons, armour pieces, firearms, weapons of all kinds as long as they have a military connection, medallions struck to celebrate military events, autographs of famous soldiers, original documents relating to army work, military pictures and prints, newspaper cuttings referring to military matters, obsolete uniforms including such fragments as sabretaches, gorgets, epaulettes, etc., and, lastly, stamps and postmarks which have franked the correspondence of soldiers on active service.

The list is a somewhat lengthy one, and to endeavour to amass a representative collection of all the things enumerated would be a formidable task. It is, therefore, much the wisest plan either to collect the above objects in a general way, specializing at the same time in two or three definite directions, or else to collect everything possible pertaining to one definite regiment. The latter method is, of course, the one which appeals most to army men and their immediate friends.

Those of us who elect to confine our attentions to regimental collecting should first procure a history of the regiment selected. From this work we shall then be able to find out what battles our chosen unit has fought in; what particular history it possesses; what noted soldiers have brought it fame; where it has been quartered from time to time; what customs specially belong to it; what changes have been made in its dress, and so forth. Such knowledge will afford us much help; it will teach us what objects to seek for and what to pass over. We shall not be led to search, say, for a Ghuznee medal if our chosen regiment was formed later than 1842, nor shall we hunt through the files of The Times for Wellington's dispatches concerning the Battle of Waterloo if our regiment took no part in the campaign.

There are one or two kinds of military curios which we should not attempt to collect. First, we should avoid all such large objects as take up more house-room than we can afford to spare them, and secondly, we should refrain from accepting objects the genuineness of which it is impossible to verify. Concerning this latter class, it may be appropriate to mention that we have never visited the battlefield of Waterloo without meeting a particularly eloquent man who always tells us that he has just had the good fortune to dig up some trophy or other of the famous fight. Naturally he is prepared to let us share in his good fortune, and consequently names a price for the article. Needless to say, the country of origin of the trophy is Germany, and the date of construction some time in the twentieth century. Probably, other battlefields besides the one at Waterloo are infested with unscrupulous curio vendors, so that the collector will be well advised if he refrains from purchasing any article unless properly authenticated—especially on battlefields.

In many branches of collecting comprehensive catalogues have been published which enable the student to classify, arrange, and price every piece among his treasures. With military curios, however, no such publications exist, but a very useful guide is the official catalogue issued by the Royal United Service Museum in Whitehall. The Museum itself is well worth frequent visits, for it is only by constant inspection of such exhibits as those displayed in this gallery that we can get to know of the existence of certain curios and of the shape, texture, and pattern of others. The Museum possesses particularly fine exhibits of medals, even of the earlier types; of uniforms, especially head-pieces; of regimental banners, and such weapons as swords and rifles.

The United Service Museum is by no means the only treasure-house of interest to collectors of military curios. The Tower of London, the Wallace Collection, and the Rotunda at Woolwich, each possess much that is worth inspecting in the way of armour and weapons, whilst the British Museum has a collection of medals which is almost unique. The traveller on the Continent will find many instructive exhibits in the MusÉe d'Artillerie at Paris, the Rijks Museum at Amsterdam, and the National Museum at Copenhagen.