practical value for civil war item

[pelago]

leech and rigdon bowie knife cs 1862, not the "D" guard but straight handle knife is about 18" long, well preserved, does have pitting, from grandfathers estate from battle of Stones River, Stones river TN Dec 1862. it is in my possesion and although i have several reference books they all have it in multiple thousands, that seems high,

both pistols in the case are his, and were carried by him during the civil war

This knife went with him thru stones river and Chickamauga and Missionary ridge (how he survived is a miracle) and it was and has been my honor to stand at the sites on the battlefieds that he fought.



the knife in question is upper left, these are from Great Grandfather pvt Martin Barger, 25th ill, Company B Formed in Danville in 1861

[Bayonetman]

I can't put a definite value on your knife, and recommend that you have it evaluated by a serious dealer in this type of item. Just in the general line, however, I was forced to sell a decent but by no means great McElroy CS knife which is possibly somewhat more common than a Leech and Rigdon. I sold it to a dealer for $3,500 and he seemed to be happy to get it, so "multiple thousands" would quite likely be reasonable.

[pelago]

wow, and i have been told that provenance also will add value to something, i am not going to sell nor advertise that i have some of these items, but my civil war collection has grown quite a bit and i have two cases full of memorabillian including letters wriiten by union and southern "troops", just plain GI's and it is interesting to note that both of them were written on scrapped or stolen or salvaged wall paper.. they would write a letter on one side and then fold it and address it and seal with wax!! and mail, union took to suttler and he took it and stamped it with rubber stamp, and confederate actually had a ten cent stamp with jeff davis on the stamp.. have three of them
bayonette, spurs, ink wells, pocket knifes, GI knife fork and spoon, tobacco, cards, the stuff that ordinary troops carried

but thanks for the information i guess i might just call insurance guy also, i also added two more original pistols a 1860 navy and a 1849 sheriff model, and many many coins and buttons of the era

[Bayonetman]

Good provenance will often add greatly to the value of any piece, whether Civil War or WW2.

Like you, I am more interested in the common items of the everyday soldier of the Civil War. I had a total of 14 relatives in the Civil War, and have a very few items from them, as well as some attributed (but not proven) from others.

At one time I had a fairly sizable collection of weapons, but medical bills dictated that the bulk of it be sold. However, I have managed to keep the family items and a few of the other odds and ends that I accumulated.

[pelago]

how very very nice and so well displayed, have you thought of a display case, i made mine and it is onthe wall

this is something that i hope you hold on for years and years to come and that it stays in the family
regards
ira jones

ps, i learned some things about collecting stuff, look in all the places, i found out that civil war letters were written on salvaged wall paper that troops tore from damaged and destroyed homes, it seems that paper was tough to find.

they would write the letter, fold it and take it to sutler (union) and mail it, the sutler having a mail contract, would use a rubbers stamp saying postage paid, and mail it within the postal system of the day... Southern troops actually had stamps, they were ten cents and had a image of jeff davis, and the southern troops would buy stamps from their sutler, howeve the southern mail system really did not exist, and a southern stamp is pretty easy to find, but a cancelled southern stamp is a treasure, and sometimes forged, but wall paper letters can be found