Threads of a Tyrant

Here's the latest installment of American Chimera’s e-archeology project of digging up old Manion’s International Auction House listings I wrote in the early 2000’s, in an effort to rescue this era from the electronic abyss. I have added extra historical information for context and general entertainment. Photo quality varies as the original file servers that stored these listings and images crashed in early 2014 and could not be restored. 

In the wake of news reports that the US government has little appetite for prosecuting service members for bringing back souvenirs from foreign theaters of war, I thought back to where I was in summer 2003.

It had been only a month or two since an F4 tornado nearly wiped Manion's International Auction House from the face of the earth. My department of authenticators and catalog writers were working with the imaging team in a trailer behind the ruined auction building. One day a call was directed to me. The man on the other end told me he was an 3rd Infantry Division 1st Sergeant, on injury leave from Operation Iraqi Freedom. He told me he had picked up a few things in the opening weeks of the war that his division's museum wasn't interested in, but had suggested Manion's for selling.

By that time I'd been in the historical military collectibles business a while and was not easily impressed. In fact some of the tallest tales and ripping yarns I've ever heard came during my years with the old auction house. I believed almost none, but I still treasure them all. When the voice on the phone said he had one of Saddam Hussein's uniforms, I thought 'suuuure you do,' though my mouth said something far more diplomatic.

His story went thus:

Having been part of the initial push into Baghdad and Objective Peach (a road bridge over the Euphrates, approximately 20 miles southwest of Baghdad), the sergeant reported that he had liberated the uniform from a dry cleaner's van carrying civilian and military clothing that was parked outside one of Saddam's palaces which happened to be inside his unit's outer patrol perimeter, near the former Saddam International Airport. He secured the uniform and went about his duties. He said that as they continued their patrol through the streets, he began noticing painted roadside portraits of Saddam and thought about what he had just grabbed from the van. His driver stopped the patrol vehicle near one of these portraits, and the sergeant got out with the liberated uniform, astonished to find it matched old Saddam's.

Of course this was all still a giant wind-up to me. But soon after the sergeant forwarded images of the uniform all of us had seen countless times on the evening news since at least 1990 - including one of the sergeant holding it up in front of the Saddam International Airport entrance. I thought, 'OK, that's interesting, send it in.'

It was to be the first of two Saddam Hussein Ba'athist militia uniforms I would handle while at Manion's. Hussein reportedly had many copies of same uniform at every palace around the country, for obvious reasons. We also handled items from others in Saddam's inner circle, including Field Marshal Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, the recently killed red-haired vice chairman of the Iraqi Revolutionary Council-cum-ISIS goon.

Anyway. Saddam's uniform excited militaria circles when it arrived, though I don't remember it generating much media interest. In fact it wasn't until another uniform came through the auction in late 2005 that local, national and international media took notice.

It is interesting to note that when the first uniform was offered in 2003, there were no Schiffer-style mass produced slick-n-glossy collector's guides on Iraqi militaria - though there were small xeroxed affairs that were traded in collector circles. Manion's had one on Iraq's Republican Guard, in fact. So really my only research tool was the Internet of early 2003. Poor though it was, I found ample evidence of Iraq having been supplied uniforms by British sources, the significance of which you'll understand from reading the lot description below.

I remember trying to put a pre-sale estimate on it being problematic. Very little Iraqi militaria had been sold up until then, and when it had it was often a decade earlier when realized prices were far more difficult to track. It was also usually just captured Republican Guard uniforms, insignia, and field gear.

But by the time research and promotion was finished and Saddam's threads hit the auction block in October 2003, they sold for more than $23K.

The condensed version of my description goes like this:

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein (Husayn) Daily Dress Uniform

Ba’athist militia tunic and matching trousers of high quality OD “two-fold super 100s worsted gabardine,” marked by long embroidered tags sewn inside along seams of both tunic and trousers. Made in Huddersfield, England, renowned for worsted material. Size 50 tags present in both tunic and trousers. Slip-on Mushir (Field Marshal) shoulder boards, embroidered yellow eagle over crossed sabers and laurel branches, red velvet stripe below. Includes red and green twist shoulder cord, seven button front, special horizontal stitched button hole for top button. Double pleated pocket front with triangular flaps, single sleeve pocket, purportedly for Saddam’s legendary “magic stone.” Elastic gathers at trouser ankles, zipper fly, button-down belt loops, single seat pocket, two side pockets and hook closure to waist. Includes two button flap patch cargo pockets to legs.

Sold October 2, 2003.

A Yankee Revisits the Death of a Confederate General

Gates of antiquarian book heaven

As some of you know, I was fortunate to attend the Rare Book School (RBS) at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, during summer 2013, where I took the intensive Principles of Descriptive Bibliography course. The school is, as one might expect, a heaven for antiquarian book sellers, archivists, registrars and appraisers. You may go there for a specific course, but you will certainly gain residual knowledge from others!

Doors of West Lawn 33

My course was, in a word, intense. The principles of bibliographical description developed by Fredson Bowers and published in 1949 are exhaustive - I mean that in ways you don't want to imagine, and include a unique and cryptic notation system that resembles calculus. Next time you're over, ask to see my ream of class notes and books on the subject that I guarantee will cure you of any teetotaler tendencies. But thanks to my RBS training, I can tell you within 15 minutes if a book, especially from the hand press era, 1450-1800, is complete, as well as what parts may be missing. As hard a slog as it was, I wouldn't trade the experience for anything.

Anyway. Being a summer course, I was able to book a room on the prestigious 'The Lawn' - part of Thomas Jefferson's Palladian "Academical Village," and was assigned West Lawn 33. During the regular school year, these rooms are reserved for undergrad students in their final year of study, and are required to be their primary residence during those semesters. Rooms are furnished with a desk, bed, fireplace, sink, rocking chair, and an electric ceiling fan, which of course isn't exactly original Jeffersonian.

Each room also contains a list of occupants dating back to the late 19^th century. None of the names in my room stood out as historic, but inspired by these surroundings, I Googled my room the night I arrived. I discovered it was used much earlier in the 19^th century by Mississippi-born Carnot Posey (1818-1863) when he attended UVa law school before the Civil War. His roommate, John Davis, would become a doctor.

Brigadier General Carnot Posey (1818-1863)

Posey served during the Mexican-American War (1846-1848) with the volunteer regiment Mississippi Rifles as a 1st Lieutenant. During the Civil War, Posey was recruited by the Wilkinson Rifles militia, and served as Captain beginning May 21, 1861. Just a couple of weeks later on June 4^th, the militia was absorbed by the 16^th Mississippi Regiment, and Posey was promoted to Colonel. 

He was wounded at the Battle of Cross Keys in June 1862, recovered, and fought at the Seven Days Battles under General R.E. Lee.  He served as temporary commander of four infantry regiments throughout the Northern Virginia and Maryland Campaigns. He fought at Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and Cemetery Ridge, and was promoted to Brigadier General in spring 1863.

Posey was wounded by a shell fragment at the Battle of Bristoe Station in October 1863 and taken to Culpeper Court House where his wound became infected. Posey's former UVa roommate, Dr John Davis, discovered the general being treated there, and arranged to have him brought to UVa's Lawn, which at the time was being used as a hospital. Davis successfully petitioned the university to annex their old room which happened to be right next door to the pavilion where he was quartered. Posey was brought there for treatment, and the wall was knocked through so Dr. Davis could see his friend and patient often. Unfortunately the nature of medical science during the Civil War being what it was, Posey did not recover and died in their old room. The Davis family had a plot in the University of Virginia Cemetery, and Posey was interred there instead of in the adjacent Confederate States Army section.

I'll never forget finishing the second account of the general's demise, and turning around in my chair to see the scar where the masonry was cut still clearly visible, covered only by a few layers of paint - just inches above the bed. Skeptic that I am, I wondered if it could possibly be "it," and walked outside to peer through the lower windows of the adjacent pavilion where Dr. Davis had his quarters. Indeed the floor of the pavilion matched the height of the lower cut in my wall.

The next day I quizzed one of the grounds administrators about upgrades of Lawn rooms over the last 150 years. She was unaware of any major renovations since the rooms were built, apart from the the rotunda, which was gutted by fire in 1895, and a set of buildings on the south end. Not exactly a water tight case, I admit, but still rather compelling - and the best I could do considering how much time I was to spend in class and on homework.

Despite the fact I self-identify as a "Yank," I must say learning the historic nature of the room added hugely to the already agreeable ambience of working with 400+ year old books!

1936 Berlin Olympic Games Silver Medal

Here's the latest installment of American Chimera’s e-archeology project of digging up old Manion’s International Auction House listings I wrote in the early 2000’s, in an effort to rescue this era from the electronic abyss. I have added extra historical information for context and general entertainment.  Photo quality varies as the original file servers that stored these listings and images crashed in early 2014 and could not be restored. 

Berlin had been scheduled to host the 1916 Olympics, but the games were cancelled on account of the First World War. A boycott of the 1936 games was considered by the United States because of the National Socialist government of Germany, though Avery Brundage, president of the U.S. Olympic Committee, ultimately decided that politics should not get in the way of sport. Similar boycotts were considered by the U.K., France, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, and the Netherlands, though no national boycotts were successful.

Interestingly, a People's Olympiad was scheduled that year in Barcelona, though it was cancelled with the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War.

As for the medal offered at Manion's, it measured 54mm, weighed 79 grams, and was “990” silver marked along the rim, and maker marked “B.H. Mayer, Pforzheim.” It was double sided, with “XI Olympiade Berlin 1936” to the obverse, while reverse showed a victor held aloft by a crowd.

Sold January 1, 2004

Moschettieri (Musketeers of Duce): Fez and Parade Helmet

Here's the latest installment of American Chimera’s e-archeology project of digging up old Manion’s International Auction House listings I wrote in the early 2000’s, in an effort to rescue this era from the electronic abyss. I have added extra historical information for context and general entertainment. Photo quality varies as the original file servers that stored these listings and images crashed in early 2014 and could not be restored.

Closely related to the Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nazionale (Voluntary Militia for National Security), aka MVSN "Blackshirts," the group's uniforms were modeled on those of the Arditi - special storm troops of the Royal Italian Army in the First World War, and the cuirassier honor guard of Italy's King Victor Emmanuel III (1869-1947). 

Moschettieri uniforms were paid for by Mussolini. The troops, drawn under rigorous standards from those with ranking military and governmental posts, received no financial compensation for performing official and ceremonial duties. Their motto was "silent and faithful," and their weapons consisted of the M-91 Carcano (Mannlicher-Carcano-Parravicino) rifle, and an M-23 dagger. The group lasted from 1923 until it was dissolved by decree when Italy entered the Second World War in June 1940.

The lot offered at Manion's consisted of an original black fur fez with silver Moschettieri insignia to the front, a black frill comb to center top running front to back. “B.V. Prescuitti, Roma” maker marked to inside white silk crown, leather sweatband. Size 56. Lot included a black finished fiber parade helmet with standard GNR skull and crossbones insignia to front. Leatherette liner, Prescuitti maker marked inside crown, leather chinstrap.

Here's a period news reel featuring the Moschettieri with fezzes galore, and a few fiber helmets.