DALLAS, TX.- Eighty-four years and a day after the attack on Pearl Harbor changed the course of world history, Heritage Auctions is proud to present the Dec. 8 Arms & Armor, Civil War & Militaria Signature® Auction, offering memorabilia that serves as tangible evidence of the determination and courage of American service members in the Pacific theater and Europe, along with items from around the world spanning centuries of warfare and peacekeeping, spycraft and sport, empire-building and entertainment, created through fine craftsmanship or improvised ingenuity.
Among the American service members called into action in the Pacific theater immediately following the Day of Infamy was Sgt. Andrew J. Paszkiewicz, a career soldier born in 1899 who had served in World War I and was stationed at Wake Island when it was attacked simultaneously with Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. He was wounded in the ensuing battle, dubbed "the Alamo of the Pacific, that lasted until Dec. 23, at which point the garrison was forced to surrender and he was among those taken prisoner and moved to occupied China. The son of a seamstress, Paszkiewicz used the skill he had learned from his mother to surreptitiously fashion an American flag from material he gathered when the Allies parachuted supplies to the camp — an action that would inspire morale among his fellow American prisoners at the risk of execution. His improvised 48-star-spangled banner is a highlight of the items in a footlocker containing his personal archive and keepsakes, but it is far from the only item of historic interest in the lot. It also contains his leather-bound "Spherical Balloon Pilot" license dated May 18, 1925, signed by Orville Wright (yes, that Orville Wright!) and B. Russell Shaw as well as his Naval Aviation Pilot certificate, flight logbooks and various equipment and assorted military documents.
On June 6, 1944, two and a half years later on the other side of the globe, the Allies would secure a section of the beachhead at Normandy in German-occupied France dubbed Omaha Beach. Among the most closely guarded secrets of World War II, Operation Bigot designated those cleared to know the precise details of the Normandy invasion — an intelligence level above Top Secret. This auction offers an exceptionally rare opportunity to own a pair of invasion maps printed for the commander of Task Force 122.
"These maps would have been as secret as they come, given only to high-ranking officials," says David Carde, Director for Arms & Armor at Heritage Auctions. "There were months of planning and briefings, and then shortly before the invasion, they would print them. These are obviously in the public now, but during the war they would have been guarded so only a few people would have introduced them on a table or the back of a jeep."
Compiled from aerial reconnaissance and Resistance intelligence, these maps record every contour, tidal gradient and German defense, with sunlight and moonlight tables guiding the crucial timing of the assault to account for ideal tide, darkness and surprise conditions. Maps like these were to be guarded or destroyed at all costs, and most were collected, classified and stored in national archives after the war.
Of course, intelligence gathered by the Office of Strategic Services, the era's precursor to the CIA, played its part in the Allies' victory, and this auction offers an OSS-issued U.S. Colt Model 1903 Hammerless Pistol, a 3-3/4-inch barrel .32-caliber covert sidearm carried by U.S. wartime spies.
An elaborately and beautifully engraved silver-plated 1849 Colt Model 1849 Pocket Percussion Revolver has a uniquely American history, according to research by the consignor: Manufactured in 1865, its natural-material grips were likely carved by an artisan originally from Germany to depict Giuseppe Garibaldi, an Italian general and revolutionary. It was used in the 1872 shooting of "Slim Jim" Shumway, the first recorded shooting in Moorhead, Minnesota, by a known gambler and drifter, "Shang Stanton." Included with the lot is an article with extensive research delves into this melting pot of a story and the various mysteries surrounding this historic piece.Fine German precision gunsmithing was also in abundance two centuries earlier in the creation of a wheellock sporting rifle, stamped with the armory mark of the Princes of Salm-Reifferscheidt. Elaborately embellished with fine chiseled scalloping, it is also marked by bone inlay renderings of leaping stags, wolves, hares and canines. As gorgeous as it is, it was likely more than just a decorative mantelpiece.
"These usually have engraving based on the game you would hunt with it," Carde says. "Despite their presentation-like qualities, the evidence indicates that these were operational implements designed for regular, practical use."
A bit further back in history, a Viking carried a weapon decorated with silver designs that provide crucial information about a transitional time. On this sword, lines of silver Christian crosses are worked into the guard, set alongside the conventional Viking decorative scheme, indicating the weapon belonged to a warrior who embraced the Christianization of Scandinavia. These features date it to around 950–1000 C.E., as the Viking Age gave way to the medieval era.
And even further in the past, a warrior donned a helmet with long, protective cheek pieces, a short, curved rear flange, and a high domed ridged crown — hallmarks of the fine bronze craftsmanship characteristic of the martial artistry of the Classical Greek world.Other highlight lots of the Dec. 8 Arms & Armor, Civil War & Militaria Signature® Auction include, to name but a few:
A pair of engraved .45-caliber Ruger New Vaquero Single-Action Revolvers belonging to legendary Western showman, quick-draw artist, sharpshooter, Hollywood consultant and fine leatherworker Joe Bowman, along with his hand-tooled holster rig. "I've seen fast, I've seen faster. I've seen fastest, and then I've seen Joe Bowman," actor James Drury once told the Los Angeles Times. "He was incredible."
The archive of Flight Officer James C. Ramsey of the 332nd Fighter Group, 302nd Fighter Control Squadron, comprising more than 60 pages of letters and documents related to "Red-Tail Angel" Ramsey's life and training in the Tuskegee Air Pilot Program from October 1942 to December 1944
A Winchester Model 1866 "Yellow Boy" Saddle Ring Carbine. "For its age, it is for sure in good condition," says Jason Watson, Heritage's Director of Arms & Armor. "It's what I'd call honest, which is what collectors want. They definitely don't want anything refinished or completely worn out."
A pair of elaborately scroll-engraved French Pirmet dueling pistols with case and accessories
An Abraham Lincoln-signed retirement endorsement. President Lincoln adds his endorsement to the verso of Lieutenant Colonel James Edelin's application for retirement from the Marines. He writes, in full: "Let Lieut. Col. of Marines, James Edelin, be placed on the retired list, on his own application, according to the law within referenced to." Signed, "A. Lincoln," and dated November 15, 1861.
