LOT James D. Julia Auctions  /  Extraordinary Antique & Collectible Firearms  / 

3457

IMPORTANT INSCRIBED SWORD, UNIFORM ITEMS, IMAGES,

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Knives, Swords & Blades Start Price:5,000.00 USD Estimated At:10,000.00 - 15,000.00 USD
IMPORTANT INSCRIBED SWORD, UNIFORM ITEMS, IMAGES,
IMPORTANT INSCRIBED SWORD, UNIFORM ITEMS, IMAGES, AND PERSONAL MEMORABILIA OF COLONEL JOHN B. BATCHELDER, HISTORIAN OF THE GETTYSBURG BATTLEFIELD. This significant lot of material is all directly related to John B. Batchelder, whose life was devoted to the study, survey, and documentation of the Battle of Gettysburg and the topographical features on the battlefield and the surrounding countryside. His sword is a French Infantry Foot Officer's sword marked Horstmann/Bros. & Co./New York" on the ricasso with a 32" curved, sgl-edged blade, having etched designs over 40% of its surface. The etching includes scrollwork, floral embellishments, and stands of military flags and trophies. The opposite side of the ricasso is marked "K & C" within a trapezoidal cartouche. The cast brass hilt is of two-branch design with floral castings on the quillon, the branch terminus, and in the center of the knuckle bow. The pommel cap is of cast brass with a deeply engraved laurel leaf decoration. The grip is of wood covered in leather with dbl strand twisted brass wire. The scabbard is of steel, having two carrying rings with a silver oval presentation plaque mounted between the top and middle scabbard mounts. The plaque is engraved, "Presented to/Prof. J.B. Batchelder,/by the friends of the/Penna. Military Institute,/Reading July 4th 1851". CONDITION: Very good. Blade is bright, etching is frosty with light areas of surface staining. Hilt is fine. Grip is good with slight wear to the high spots. Scabbard is bright, undented, with minor surface rust scattered throughout the body. Attached to the sword is a gold wire officer's sword knot in very good condition. 2) Batchelder's uniform frock coat dating between 1875-1885 is a part of this lot. A custom made, non-regulation military style frock coat, dbl-breasted, being made of dark blue wool broad cloth with a standing collar measuring 1-1/2" high at the front and 2" high in the rear. The front is in cut-away style with a sgl buttonhole on the left side. The short tailed Chausseur type jacket has two U-shaped exterior pockets sewn from the bottom hem and rising about 6" high on each side. There are two rows of 7 buttons each, which are 3-pc brass buttons with a lined background and the intertwined fancy letters "BSR". They are back marked "Scovill Mf'g Co./Waterbury". The sleeves are constructed in 2-pcs, each having two looped strips of 1/4" gold braid rising from the cuff 4" and returning with a cuff sized button mounted at the top of each loop. Three small buttons are mounted on the cuff adjacent. On each shoulder are mounted a non-regulation stylized Russian-type shoulder knot being made of two strands of thick gold roping, having a third strand which surrounds an oval shaped pillow with a blue center and an embroidered numeral "1" in the center of each. The shoulder knots are terminated at the collar with a cuff-sized eagle "I" button. The knots are sewn to the uniform shoulders. The entire jacket is unlined. Also included is the orig. fiber-board box that contained Batchelder's epaulettes.. It is inscribed on the bottom in old ink ""worn by J. D. Batchelder Reading, Pennsylvania on Governor's staff of Governor of Pennsylvania". CONDITION: Very good. Scattered mothing, particularly on the backside of the jacket with a couple of holes on the front right side. An interesting non-regulation, perhaps military school, uniform coat. 3) Batchelder's kepi is included. In relic condition, the body being made of dark blue wool dating from the same period of the jacket. The front rises approx. 2-1/2", the back about 5-1/2", and the crown 4-1/2" in diameter. A sgl line of dark green braid is present on the band of the kepi and running up the front, back, and each side. There is a sgl line forming a circle on the top of the crown and a sgl line of twisted braid forming a quatrefoil on top. Attached to the front is a silver wire braid embroidered wreath surrounding the Old English letters "B.L.S". There is a tarred leather chinstrap with two cuff-sized buttons, 2-pc variety having a lined background and the letters "BSR". The visor is missing. The interior is lined in dark green polished cotton with a drawstring and a tarred canvas crown. A tarred canvas rain cover is folded inside but stuck to the crown of the kepi and there is a 1-1/4" leather sweatband. CONDITION: Poor. Tattered, moth eaten. Sweatband is loose. One of the chinstrap buttons is separated but accompanies the lot. Visor is missing. 4) Accompanying the kepi is a boxed pom-pom having a cream-colored rnd wool pom-pom mounted on a brass wire having a gold oval ball and a gilt embroidered "Jeff Davis" eagle hat badge affixed. Pom-pom is accompanied by its orig teardrop shaped pasteboard box covered in black paper with a light blue edge and a white spattered decoration. Printed paper label on the front reads "I U.S. POMPOM/with Gold Ring & Eagle-" (and handwritten) "Aid/de/Camp". Accompanying are a pair of full dress regulation epaulets for a field grade officer being made of gilt wire cloth, rolled gilt braid terminating in two convex gold-plated brass crescents. Fringes of medium width. Each epaulet has a Civil War period cuff-sized eagle "R" button. The undersides are lined in bright yellow silk and to each button is tied a brown cotton tape on the bottom side for attachment. In old ink written on the undersides is "John B. Batchelder/Reading Military Inst. Principal, _____ Penn." with a similar, but mostly indiscernible, legend on the other epaulet. CONDITION: Very good. Epaulets show light wear with minor fraying to the undersides. 5) Pair of Lt. Col.'s shoulder straps. A pr being embroidered on a rectangular pc of unbleached cotton with dark blue wool top and a light blue paper backing. Sgl gilt wire border enclosing a pr of silver oak leaves on each. CONDITION: Fair. Paper undersides are intact. Each end of the rectangle has evidence of old stitching. Blue background of each is heavily moth eaten. 6) Belgian pin fire revolver, about 7mm, having a 6" rnd bbl with cartridge ejector mounted on the right side. Iron frame, trigger guard, and back strap all heavily engraved with scrolls and a floral decoration. The cylinder is engraved with scrollwork. 2-pc grips of walnut heavily checkered. A dbl action pin fire revolver which is completely unmarked but likely of Belgian manufacture. CONDITION: Very good. Traces of orig blue exist behind the recoil shield. Remainder of the gun is uncleaned with a dark plum/brown patina. 7) Letters and photographs. There are 7 small orig photographs of Batchelder in uniform in two different poses. The photographs were taken , around 1875, one view shows him in a military frock coat (similar to, but not the one included in this lot) and wearing the kepi, which is included in this lot. There are two photographs, probably taken on the same day, showing Batchelder in the same coat, but without wearing the kepi. Two of the latter exist, one cut and two in oval. Five of the others exist, one in a frame. There is a large framed photograph of a group of officers, all in full dress uniform with belts and swords, one row seated, one row standing, presumably from the Pennsylvania Military Institute. Batchelder is pictured in the standing row, third from the right. They all wear dbl-breasted, officer's frock coats, generally conforming the 1872 pattern with shoulder knots. Belts, sashes, a variety of swords, most of non-regulation style, rest in their laps. And they all are holding their kepis, which are identical to the one included with this lot. A large format albumen, the image measures 13-1/4" x 7". It appears to be in its original frame with wide line decorated mat, however the antique frame has been re-backed. There is a large and important albumen photograph by Tipton of Gettysburg, PA, illustrating a group of ladies and gentlemen in Devil's Den. On the lower right hand corner, the photograph is titled "R.I. Exc. Devil's Den./Oct 14th '86". A label on the back states that this is a photograph of Elisha Hunt Rhodes and Gettysburg Historian J.B. Batchelder at Devil's Den, 1886. Photograph measures 17" x 14" and the image size is 15-1/2" x 12-3/4". All of the sitters wear ribbons and/or veterans badges. The rocks in the background are decorated with graffiti. CONDITION: Small portraits of Batchelder are all very good. One has been trimmed to an oval. Group photograph is in superb condition. Devil's Den image is very good with one light water stain to the mat in the upper right hand corner. 8) Framed state military commission, partially printed document having PA. state seal. The commission reads "To John B. Batchelder of the County of Bucks Esquire:/Sends greeting: Reposing Especial trust and confidence, in your zeal, Valor, patriotism, and fidelity I have appointed you the said John B. Batchelder, to be one of my Aids-de-Camp with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Militia of this Commonwealth…". The certificate is signed by Gov. William F. Johnston and A.L. Russell, Secretary of the Commonwealth, and is dated September 4, 1851. CONDITION: Excellent. In an old period frame which has been re-backed. 9) Three letters, first dated October 1849 from Pembroke. Three pages from Batchelder to his sister, he speaks of the end of the school year and anexhibition, inviting his sister to attend, along with other personal news, signed "Yours Truly, B" in very fancy script, below which he has penned a flying fanciful bird holding a letter in its beak. Second letter, dated March 1852 Pembroke from Batchelder to "Lizzie", 4-pgs of romantic poetry signed "From your devoted lover, B". Third is an artistically penned card to "Miss Meribal Philbrick with the kind regards of your friend, J.B. Batchelder, Nottingham, NH August 26, 1879". All done in very fancy and artistic penmanship with a three line poem, at the bottom signed "Mrs. Lizzie B. Batchelder". The group also includes a wood framed heavy glass mirror measuring 5" x 3-1/2" with an old handwritten tag on the reverse "shaving mirror used by John B. Batchelder during the Civil War with the Army of the Potomac and at Gettysburg 1864-5." Small notebook, leather and brass bound with a closing clasp and its original pencil titled "Noticeable Things" by (signed) John B. Batchelder. The little booklet has a series of very small notes, drawings, and watercolors depicting interesting subjects. One depicts a window flowerpot from the Chicago Exposition, 1878, another a billiard table, flower stand. The booklet includes a few pencil sketches, some notes, and is approx. half full. The little sketchbook measures 2-1/4" x 3-1/2". CONDITION: Letters are very good. Mirror shows a great deal of use. Sketchbook is very nice, edges are worn on the outside. 10) Finally, the group includes a copy of the color lithograph completed by Batchelder and published in 1863, titled "Gettysburg Battle-field." The lithograph 28" x 39" and shows a birds eye panoramic view of the battlefield of Gettysburg looking north from the Baltimore Turnpike. Facsimile signatures of Gens. Mead, Dblday, Newton, Hancock, Birney, and others all attest to the accuracy of the presentation. CONDITION: Fair. Image is foxed and stained, particularly around the borders. Fracture through the image measuring the entire height of the print about 11" from the right margin. 11) Copy of battle reports of Gen. John Gibbons and his subordinate commanders – "The Battle of Gettysburg, July 1-July 3, 1863".John B. Batchelder, an instructor and later principal at the Pennsylvania Military Institute and with an intense interest and talent in art, geography, topography, and military history, never served in US Volunteer or Federal Forces during the Civil War, but rose to become one of the most significant and influential 19th C. military historians whose interpretations of the Battle of Gettysburg are studied to this day. Batchelder was born in September 1825 in Gilmanton, NH and by the 1850's, was commissioned to paint various views in NJ, PA, NH, and NY City. From 1863-1865, he was listed as a print publisher in Boston and completed an oil painting "The Death of Lincoln," now in the collection of Brown University. He died at Hyde Park, MA. on December 22, 1894. A copy of an undated broadside advertisement for "Batchelder's School of Design" lists his curriculum as "practical geometry, mensuration, mechanical and architectural drafting, the principles of shades and shadows, sketching from nature, using pencil crayon, India ink and sepia, and drawing". Immediately following the conflict of Gettysburg, he started from home for the scene of the battle and spent nearly 90 days carefully surveying and sketching its territory across a 10-sq mile area. He also collected oral histories from participants and followed inquiries from both sides of the conflict for years after the war had ended. His obituary states "Colonel Batchelder knew more about the Battle of Gettysburg than any other man ever knew about any great battle that was ever fought". Batchelder served as the most high profile and capable battlefield guide when dignitaries, veterans, and generals returned to the scene. Batchelder escorted Maj. Gen. Windfield Scott Hancock, veteran commander of the Army of the Potomac's Second Army Corps. on his last tour of the Gettysburg battlefield on November 19 and 20, 1885. In 1880, the United States Congress appropriated $50,000 for one man to write a history of a sgl Civil War battle- Gettysburg. That congressional appropriation was a remarkable endorsement, particularly in light of the fact that many Civil War veterans controlled Congress during those years, many of them heroes of Gettysburg from both sides. In its day, and even now, this was a hefty sum to bestow on the artistic and literary work of one individual. Even more remarkable was that this prize was given to Batchelder, who was not a veteran of the Civil War, or even of the US Military. They chose a man who was not present at the battle and had never before produced a sgl historical work. Nevertheless, Batchelder's expertise, artistic and historical talents had made such a profound impression on the nation that he was given this commission. His writings and his remarkably done landscapes of the battlefield have had a lasting effect on this historic battle. He is responsible for the placement of many monuments, the labeling of many sites on the battlefield, including the High Water Mark, an area of exhibition that he virtually created. He also documented many of the accounts of the battle passed to him from veterans of both north and south. Batchelder may well be the most influential historian of a sgl battle in world military history. This significant group of uniform, documentary, and personal objects are of great importance to the story of how all America has perceived this pivotal battle of the American Civil War. 4-57389, 4-57367 CW105 (10,000-15,000)"
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