WRECKED Militaria - Post your "tragic" pictures!

[ViewfinderGyrene]

 

Something just died inside me seeing this lol...this is clearly a victim of a HipsterXD

[oldabewla]

This is what happens when your brains are on drugs LOL!

[ViewfinderGyrene]

This is what happens when your brains are on drugs LOL!

 

 

[Garandomatic]

If it had "born to kill" on the other side, it would just be a statement about the duality of man!

[Longbranch]

 

Thanks to the Army changing fatigue uniforms multiple time while I was in the service, I went through a bunch of them. When I got rid of my shirts, I removed all patches; SSI, US Army, name tape, airborne wings, ranger tab, etc before selling them at the thrift shop or donating them to Good Will/Salvation Army. So I understand why many shirts will not have the original patches. I also ended up with several small boxes of used (and ultimate unusable) patches, tapes, etc.

 

 

This was at a surplus store that stripped all of the insignia off of the uniforms.

[MasonK]

I have a few of these...Always sad to see scratch marks on the reverse of a medal, likely done by a jeweler/precious metal scrapper to check for gold/silver content.

 

While there are some US medals that contain precious metals (Type 1 USN Purple Heart for example - Sterling Silver), I wish they would realize it has a higher monetary value because of what it is, not for it's precious metal content.

 

[Brig]

Someone here has to have some name engraved medals where the names were ground down...

 

Post up those pictures!

I once has a Phillipine Insurrection PH with the nae buffed down, but legible. It now resides in another member's collection

 

I do have a KIA PH to a WWII Marine that was defaced, all you can see is the 'PFC' and "CR" of USMCR. Unfortunately the name is lost to history, I'll try to post some images this weekend

[468abnarm]

 

Something just died inside me seeing this lol...this is clearly a victim of a HipsterXD

I guess I am missing something here. Does an "upside down" peace symbol have some other meaning?

[jagjetta]

Milky:

That is a GREAT piece of what we would have called "trench art" if it had been done to a WWI helmet. I wonder if some people's "wrecked" is just another collector's "trench art". If not, than there were literally hundreds of thousands of helmets, artillery shells, belts, cartridges, and insignia that have been "wrecked."

 

If, for example, this helmet was carved up prior to 1975, this would be a stand-out piece in a Vietnam exhibit, capturing a facet of the era's turmoil. If it was a Vietnam piece, and I was charged with assembling an exhibit as a curator or collector, I would consider it a very significant contribution.

 

Food for thought.

John

[jagjetta]

I keep a file on my desktop labeled "Preservation Boo-Boos". As I process collections, I drop images of items that collectors have affected--not acts of nature like rodents or fires, but rather, all done with good-intention, but simply without much thought of cause and effect. The great tragedies, in my humble opinion, are the things collectors do to relics.

 

First up:

 

Magic marker pricing. Sure you might say, "Oh a little acetone will take that right off...but acetone affects the natural patina of age. But of course, the same can be said for any collector who feels compelled to "clean" a relic. The stuff is only new once. Nothing is going to change that.

 

 

Next, another pricing calamity: Stickers on medals (or anything) In this case, silver is constantly oxidizing. Cut that oxygen off (say, with a sticker), and the surfaces oxidizes at different rate, leaving this.

 

 

Stickers aren't the only collector faux pas. This medal was permanently affected (i.e, "ruined") when the collector stored it inside one of those plastic case with foam backing. That foam backing is petroleum-based and off-gases. Overtime, the gases from the foam reacted with the brass of the medal, literally "melting" together. Sure the green could be scraped off, but it reacted with the metal, leaving a pock-marked surface.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jagjetta]

A lot of collectors feel compelled to fix things...It's in our nature, I think. But still, there are some real blunders caused by lack of restraint..and judgement:

 

Yes, I still find a lot of documents that have been taped, paper clipped, or rubber-banded by collectors. All of these things react with the wood / ragstock-based documents.

 

 

In my early museum days, I had to build an exhibit of local Civil War significance. I was young, stupid, and thought the display was more important than the relics. Ta-da....gluing insignia to foam core is never a good idea, and permanently "ruins" an artifact.

[jagjetta]

 

And finally, a few shots from a helmet collection of about 100 "painted" WWI pieces. The collector thought he was "protecting" his precious items when he covered each with lacquer. Looked great and shiny at the time, I bet, but lacquer darkens over time. Over time (about 10-15 years) all those bright colors became a nice, shiny even brown. 100 helmets--"ruined" by the collector...not mice, not fire, not even an over zealous veteran or hippy artist, but the person who thought he was "saving" history.

 

 

From the same collection, an item that ended up in my collection...and one of my favorite pieces: A Tank Corps helmet that pays homage to the genesis of the Corps: the 65th Engineers. This is a real "holy relic" for Tank Corps collectors. Alas, the caretaker who had it before me decided to "protect" it with a layer of lacquer. I don't know if he had regrets and tried to wipe it off, or if he simply wrapped it in a woolly red blanket before the lacquer had dried can cured, but now, what I consider to be a "holy relic" of one of the baddest-rump fighting formation of WWI, the 301st Heavy Tank Battalion, now has a fuzzy outer layer making it bunny like than a "Treat em Rough" tanker's helmet. Collector found, collector ruined, in my humble opinion.

 

We won't be able to keep acts of nature from destroying relics, but we as collectors can do our best to not add to the destruction. Remember, "Friends don't let friends try to 'preserve' historic objects."

 

JAG

[Oldmedalgi]

Unfortunately, or fortunately, no pictures. About 20 + years ago, a friend called me about a cigar box full of military medals he had just bought. I went over and there was a Sampson, a variety of numbered Campaigns, insignia, etc. However, being a Purple Heart collector, what caught my eye were the large number of Washington heads from Purple Hearts. I was curious, so I called the guy my friend bought the box from.

 

He told me that he used to buy Purple Hearts at yard sales and flea markets in the 60s and 70s. When the price of silver skyrocketed in the 80s, he removed the Washington heads and purple inserts and sold them for scrap. So, I asked him how many there were, and he said however many Washington heads were in the box. So, I asked him if any of them were engraved, and his comment was "Oh yea, a lot of them, and they were beautiful.

 

UGGGHHHHHHHH. The only PHs that were made of sterling silver were early WW2 Navy and USMC Purple Hearts. So, I counted the Washington Heads, there were 56.

 

So, 56 Navy and USMC PHs were sold for scrap sterling. At that time, Navy and USMC PHs were selling for between $400 and $500 each. Now, who knows what hearts were in there? Pearl Harbor? Midway? We'll never know.

 

As bad as this is, MAYBE, they weren't all melted. Here's a pic of the front of one of those PHs from the Call of Duty Revised Edition book, Pg. 175. All we can do is hope they weren't all melted.

[Bugme]

...100 helmets--"ruined" by the collector...not mice, not fire, not even an over zealous veteran or hippy artist, but the person who thought he was "saving" history.

...Collector found, collector ruined, in my humble opinion.

 

...we as collectors can do our best to not add to the destruction. Remember, "Friends don't let friends try to 'preserve' historic objects."

 

JAG

 

So true! Rule of thumb: If preservation requires the collector to "add" something to an item, then it's best not to add it. If you do, regret will soon follow.

[nix284]

I'll admit one from many years ago. I had a grease gun magazine bag covered in that jungle preservative grease. Decided to wash it off in the washing machine. When I opened the lid later that day, all that remained was the lift the dot and the brass washer from the drain hole in the bottom. Not a stitch of fabric anywhere. Fortunately I didn't destroy the washer and the wife never found out!

[doyler]

To add to JAGs thoughts the stickers dealers put on paper items is never a good thing.

 

Also going to gun shows its a common practice here by one of the big promoters to have stickers placed on all guns coming in and out.This is done by the security people or police officers they hire for the weekend.This shows the weapon was checked and cleared for entry as then no loaded firearm is brought through the door by the public.One color for in bound and another if one is bought from a dealer and is going out.Sad thing is they always want to stick it on the wood.I learned to ask them to place it on the butt plate and remove it as soon as I leave the show.

 

Once I took a great old trapdoor Springfield to the show and they stuck a sticker on the stock.I left and drove home.Wasnt more than 3 hours home.Took the rifle out of the case and took the sticker off.It pulled off the old finnish on the rifle and left a nice bright circle on the wood.May be alright if your in a tanning booth but stickers on guns are not good either.

[jagjetta]

I'll admit one from many years ago. I had a grease gun magazine bag covered in that jungle preservative grease. Decided to wash it off in the washing machine. When I opened the lid later that day, all that remained was the lift the dot and the brass washer from the drain hole in the bottom. Not a stitch of fabric anywhere. Fortunately I didn't destroy the washer and the wife never found out!

 

This cracked me UP. It takes a big man to admit to being the guy behind the destruction of a relic. It takes a bigger man to hide the near destruction of a washing machine from his wife!

 

My hat's off to you on both accounts.

 

JAG

[CombatEng44]

Some woman bought a WWII wool blanket from me and walked away announcing she was going to cut it up and make Teddy Bears with it. I begged her to TAKE one with some holes but she just kept on walking.

People without any talent have gone bonkers with taking good antiques and "re-furbishing" them. Horrible colors, horrible creations, horrible prices and horrible people! We have been buying and selling antiques for 40 yrs and this is the worst I've ever see. They slap some chalk paint on a chest and call it art.

I just shake my head.

[Mr.Jerry]

I'll admit one from many years ago. I had a grease gun magazine bag covered in that jungle preservative grease. Decided to wash it off in the washing machine. When I opened the lid later that day, all that remained was the lift the dot and the brass washer from the drain hole in the bottom. Not a stitch of fabric anywhere. Fortunately I didn't destroy the washer and the wife never found out!

 

I had the same thing happen with 2 - grungy 48 star flags...

 

Nothing left but grommets and about 500 little red/white/blue tufts stuck in all those washing machine holes....

[MWalsh]

Remember, "Friends don't let friends try to 'preserve' historic objects."

 

JAG

Great post and comments and thoughts John, thanks!

 

Perhaps a better thread title would have actually been as you noted - Friends don't let friends try to "preserve" historic objects

 

I suspect all of us have been there at one time or another tho.

 

I have a WW1 DSC recipients helmet... It too is lacquered. In my case tho, I honestly think the vet did it himself.

[KVSkelton]

A local man has his Great Great Grandfather's Confederate cavalry saber. It is, understandably, considered a family treasure. It seems that when this man's Dad went to Detroit to work in the auto industry in the 1950s, he decided the best way to preserve the sword was to chrome it. And not just the blade, he had everything except the grip chromed, scabbard included! To this day every time I see that sword proudly displayed in a glass case on the wall it makes my heart hurt.

[Milky]

Milky:

That is a GREAT piece of what we would have called "trench art" if it had been done to a WWI helmet. I wonder if some people's "wrecked" is just another collector's "trench art". If not, than there were literally hundreds of thousands of helmets, artillery shells, belts, cartridges, and insignia that have been "wrecked."

 

If, for example, this helmet was carved up prior to 1975, this would be a stand-out piece in a Vietnam exhibit, capturing a facet of the era's turmoil. If it was a Vietnam piece, and I was charged with assembling an exhibit as a curator or collector, I would consider it a very significant contribution.

 

Food for thought.

John

 

Errr, I believe it's by an artist who "decorated" the helmet recently trying to show off.

[jagjetta]

 

Errr, I believe it's by an artist who "decorated" the helmet recently trying to show off.

 

 

Did a bit of digging...the artist goes by the name, "D*Face" and has a fair amount of international renown as a graphic, street artist, and sculpture. He is also into some pretty serious street rod and custom bike work. So, I wouldn't personally call this "trench art" but it is a piece that has had some pretty wide acclaim in the art circles. Again, one man's trash is another man's art. And there ain't no accountin' for taste in art!

[jagjetta]

Following up on the M1 peace helmet (at the risk of antagonistically flogging a dead horse...), I would humbly suggest we tread lightly when calling an artistic expression "wrecked militaria." Otherwise, we will have to condemn all those bronze monuments out there too....

 

 

That wasn't a pla-dough sculpture that was covered in bronze...it was honest-to-goodness militaria. And when the sculpture was finished, the artist didn't rinse the bronze off the relics. "They done disappeared" in the process! TRULY "wrecked militaria"---it ceased to exist for another purpose.

 

Now I hope this doesn't devolve into a Trumpian discussion of "good" wrecked versus "bad" wrecked.

 

[MAW]

There's some "artist" or "ar-teest" that sets up at a local antique show, and has 4 or so "sculptures" of turtles, using M-1 helmets for the shells.

 

Thankfully, I haven't noticed any front-seamed ones....but it makes me gag everytime I see the guy.

 

They aren't that impressive looking, honestly. I hope his slow sales help prevent him from making more of the things.