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1 13
A Green safety plug and a red arming plug from L-11, "Little Boy", the First Atomic Bomb dropped on Japan.
Each plug made of composite metal and wood, 3 inches long and 1 inch in diameter, each housed in a custom shadow box with original annotated inspection tags mounted on the reverse. The label for the red plug an inspection card for L-11 signed and dated 7/31/45, and the card for the green plug a written statement signed by both Doll ans Jeppson.
ONE OF ONLY THREE SURVIVING SETS OF BOMB PLUGS, THE ONLY SURVIVING RELICS OF "LITTLE BOY," THE FIRST ATOMIC BOMB DETONATED OVER HIROSHIMA. This set was given by Weapons Test Officer Jeppson to his superior Edward Doll, the day after the flight. Jeppson's own set was sold in Butterfields Auctions in 2002, now privately owned, and there is a further set in the Naval Museum Washington D.C., a set that belonged to Deak Parsons, who also flew on the Enola Gay as Senior Military Technical Observer. This last set is presumed to have been given to Parsons by Jeppson.
Sold for: $100,075
c. 1899-1902.
Two early "Countryside-made" forms of the National Flag of the Philippines. 680 x 850 mm; and 640 x 1270 mm. Each hand-sewn from cotton, with a white triangle at hoist and horizontal blue over red bars, the white triangle with sewn-in central 8 pointed star and 3 smaller 4 pointed stars at the 3 corners. One flag with the blue faded to grey, edges slightly frayed, the second with some dark discoloration to the flag, both lightly stained. Cloth ties at hoist to secure to a wooden stick.
Sold for: $21,325
A Landing Craft Propeller. Recovered from Utah Beach, June 8th 1976. A bronze propeller for a LCVP or Higgins Boat, stamped "Gaines 12 x 12LH, 1943". Diameter 270 mm, depth 55 mm. Some wear to blades.
A fine landing craft propeller, the memento dug out of the sands of Utah Beach by a visiting veteran in 1976.
Sold for: $6,950
US Made: Flown during the Landings in Normandy, June 6th 1944 onwards.
An American manufactured USCG woolen flag. 390 x 240 mm. The luff marked with a faint stencil "CG Ensign". The ensign badly blown out at the fly with just 33% of the flag remaining, slightly discolored. Framed and glazed;
TOGETHER WITH: British Admiralty Chart. English Channel Chart. Eastbourne to Poole, Etretat to Mont St. Michel. 600 x 475 mm. The chart annotated in pencil with the mineswept lanes across the Channel for the Allied Invasion fleet, marking out routes from Plymouth, Weymouth and Portsmouth to a holding station off the Isle of Wight, and then on to Cherbourg, Utah, Omaha, Gold and Red beaches on the Normandy Coast, and two areas in mid channel marked "Mined". Lower margin slightly trimmed, the lower corners torn. Framed and glazed.
Sold for: $21,325
New York, 1942, in goatskin with mouton collar, brown satin lining, elasticized wool hem and cuffs, by Willis & Geiger Inc. Painted "devil dog" logo of Marine Corps squadron VMF-111 on front left breast, crudely hand-painted image of a Grumman F4F Wildcat above two crashed Japanese planes on back panel, titled "Screamin Debby." Size 36. Wear to leather, fraying to fabric hem and cuffs.
A rare USMC Flying Jacket. The VMF-111 was a Marine Corps Reserve flying squadron, established in 1925. At the outbreak of the war in the Pacific of the two Fighting Squadrons available, only the VMF-111 was ready to go, and they were shipped out from San Diego on March 10th 1942, for Samoa. their 15 Grumman F4F-3 wildcats arrived a week later, and they served as the only aerial defense of Samoa. They fighter force moved from island to island during the various island hopping campaigns, 1942-45, performing proudly. The force came back to Texas, and was deactivated in November 1945.
Sold for: $6,325
"Mounted Artillery 9th Unit." [China: captured Peking? c.1900-1901.]
2 captured Chinese banners; the first on Cotton, 880 x 850 mm. With black central square and in-sewn Chinese characters reading "Qipao jiu dui" [Mounted Artillery 9th Unit], and with white border surround, the border stained, two small holes.
Sold for: $6,075
United States: In Naval Use 1851-63.
A large mainmast-sized woolen US Navy flag. 155 x 345 cm. The 13 linen stars hand sewn in 4/5/4 horizontal pattern, the linen luff with sewn eyes at head and foot and other small holes, and a manuscript inscription in ink, "Brig Rival", and a 19th century metal accession tag "3154.L". The flag partly blown out at the fly, stained and discolored, numerous small holes and tears, possibly by shrapnel fire.
Provenance: "Lent by Mrs A Kull"; Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.
A fine, rare and damaged 13-star boat flag, of large size, flown on the Brig Rival. The US Navy in the early 1850s adopted the simple 13 star flag fror use on their smalle boats, and then in 1863 introduced a size scale for these 13 star boat flags with numbers from 1 upwards. This flag has no number and clearly dates from before that time. The Zaricor collection has a flag of similar form (4/5/4 star configuration), but of smaller size, that was used in the attempted amphibious landings of small row boats at Fort Fisher, near Wilmington, North Carolina, in Decemeber 25-27th, 1864.
Sold for: $4,075
ROSENTHAL, JOSEPH. 1911-2006. Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima.
Gelatin silver print, 11 x 14 inches (341 x 272 mm), with ink inscription at lower left, pencil annotations "honor" and numeral "27" on verso. Slight yellowing, inscription faded. Unmounted.
INSCRIBED AND SIGNED BY ROSENTHAL to a Marine Corps Major: "To Bob Payne — With sincere thanks for the help in making this possible. Joe Rosenthal, A.P." Major Charles Robert (Bob) Payne was Public Information Officer for the Fleet Marine Force, Pacific from October 18 to September 25, 1945. He was sent to Iwo Jima, where he worked with press photographers and supervised the pictorial record of the assault on the island, for which he was awarded a Bronze Star medal.
Sold for: $4,075
[British?: c.1945.]
A celebratory cotton flag combining the national flags of the USA, Britain, USSR, Nationalist Government of China, and the French resistance. 1110 x 1890 mm. The 4 principal nations occupying each quadrant of the flag, with the Cross of Lorraine, in red at the center, representing the French Resistance. With halyard, the flag somewhat hastily made with slight overlapping colors. A few small holes near the hoist, some light stains.
A curious and very unusual celebratory flag, almost certainly British made, presumed to have been made up for a celebratory Parade in France in the summer of 1945. The inclusion of the French Resistance Cross of Lorraine suggests a French parade, possibly that on VE Day, May 8th in Paris. It is very rare to see the flags of all the allies on one flag.
Sold for: $3,825
1. Autograph Letter Signed ("Winston S. Churchill"), to the Reverend J. Wales Cameron, regarding an invitation to Churchill to become a candidate for the Lord Rectorship of Edinburgh University, 2 pp recto and verso, on bifolium paper, March 11, 1908, in ink, with blindstamp of the Colonial Office at upper left. With the original mailing envelope, signed "W.S. Churchill" in pencil at lower right. Slight toning, fingermarks, envelope torn in half.
2. Letter Signed ("Winston S. Churchill"), to Reverend Cameron, stating that he would be honored to attend the meetings of the University Court, 1 p, in secretarial hand, probably of Edward Marsh, October 21, 1908, on Board of Trade bifolium notepaper. Some smudges and toning to margins.
3. Letter Signed ("Winston S. Churchill"), to Reverend Cameron, accepting an invitation to a banquet, 2 pp recto and verso, February 10, 1909, in unknown secretarial hand, on Board of Trade bifolium notepaper. Fold creases, minor toning.
4. Typed Letter Signed ("E.Marsh"), from Churchill's Secretary to Reverend Cameron, thanking him for information provided in a prior letter, 1 p, May 19, 1908, on Board of Trade bifolium notepaper. Fold creases, minor toning.
WITH: Notecard addressed to Reverend Cameron informing him of a committee meeting of the British Legion, West Kilbridge Branch, to be held Friday, January 12 (no year given).
Churchill was promoted to President of the Board of Trade in 1908, becoming the youngest Cabinet Minister since 1866. At the time, he was an M.P. representing Dundee.
Sold for: $3,570
Cuba: Flag dated July 3, 1898.
A late nineteenth century Cuban linen flag, 410 x 610 mm, inscribed in ink "Battle of Santiago July 3 1898," the linen flag somewhat faded, with the ink faded to brown, edges slightly torn and worn. Framed.
An emotive relic from the famous sea battle between the USA and Spain, fought off Santiago, Cuba, on July 3 1898. This naval battle marked the culmination of the Cuban Wars of Independence from the Spanish, and the beginning of US influence on the island. Cuban revolutionaries had been fighting for independence from Spain since 1868, and the spark that involved the States was the sinking of the USS Maine in Havana Harbor in February 1898, apparently from a mine attached to the hull. Public opinion whipped up by the Newspaper Baron Randolph Hearst and others, over the Spanish policy of "concentration" camps for Cubans, also provoked the US into action. They sent the North Atlantic Squadron and the Flying Squadron to Cuba, with battleships and armored cruisers. The Spanish Caribbean Squadron under Cervera, was holed up in the port of Santiago, with a ring of American ships blockading the port. For more than a month they faced off, but on July 3rd the Spanish tried to slip out of port. the American fleet engulfed the Spanish ships in a hail of shell fire, and the Spanish Squadron was chased out to sea. By the end of the day, all the Spanish ships had been sunk, losing 300 men, and 1,800 taken prisoner, while the US fleet lost one man killed and one wounded. Within two weeks the Spanish negotiated a Treaty in Paris and lost possession of Cuba. This flag was probably waved by Cuban crowds when the American naval forces came ashore.
Sold for: $1,402
US Department of Defense, Italy edition: June 1 1944 - November 9th 1944.
Volume 1 numbers 170 to 308. Broadsheet. Folio. The pages slightly browned, with brittle edges. Institutional half cloth, worn.
A fine consecutive run of this important military newspaper, "The Stars and Stripes," issued as a 4pp newspaper, priced at 2 lire, on a daily basis and distributed to the US forces, in this case in the Italian campaign. The subject matter of the paper covered both the latest war news but also when the war news was slack, it covered domestic American sports results and news from back home. It provided important information on the state of the war, and was the only way that troops on the front line would ever know what was happening around the world on the various fronts.
Sold for: $1,402
Books wanted for our men in Camp and over there. Take your gifts to the Public Library.New York: The Gill Engraving Company, [1918].
Color-printed poster to encourage the donation of books for the troops at home and abroad.
Sold for: $446
