Milestone’s Sept. 26 Premier Military & Edged Weapons Auction pays tribute to courageous American warriors and 250 years of historic battles

WILLOUGHBY, Ohio – On September 26, Milestone Auctions will present the Fall 2026 edition of its Premier Military & Edged Weapons Sale, an event that’s always a favorite with specialist collectors. The fully-curated 627-lot selection of rare, well-provenanced antique and vintage items is designed to take military buffs on a journey steeped in American and world history. The 250-year timeline starts in the 18th century with coveted Revolutionary War items and progresses to the modern-war era. Significant sections are devoted to Civil War (Confederate and Union) and World War II/Nazi relics, including important uniform groupings, helmets and headgear, flags, medals, and a top-notch selection of military swords, knives, daggers and katanas. All forms of remote and absentee bidding will be available for this live auction, which will be webcast in real time from Milestone’s gallery.

The Civil War offerings are led by a museum-worthy collection of 21 manuscript Civil War maps identified to “Brigadier General Alpheus S. Williams, Highest Ranking Officer from Michigan” and relating to the campaigns of General William Sherman and himself, in 1864-65. Three maps were drawn on thin paper and appear to have been field-sketched. One of the maps describes the “Opening of the Atlanta Campaign, May 1864” and seems to be a reconnaissance map, as it notes names, physical features, the distance to various places off the map, etc. Additionally, there are 1818 manuscript scribed battle maps, likely created as master maps for photographic reproduction in the monumental Atlas to Accompany the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. The collection’s provenance is uncertain, but the owner's father was friends with, and lived adjacent to Milo Quaife, who edited From the Cannon's Mouth, a published collection of letters that General Williams sent to his daughter during the war.

A coveted Civil War Union uniform consists of a midnight-blue wool sack coat with four eagle buttons, and a fatigue blouse. The tunic coat’s single interior pocket is marked C.D.D. (Clothing Department and Depot) Managing Maker, with a star. Standard field uniforms of this type were made in large numbers for soldiers of the Union Army, but were routinely discarded after the war, making this example a very rare find.

Stunning and ultra-rare, a Civil War silk flag with a canton featuring 35 hand-painted gilt stars in a circular medallion is constructed identically to a standard guidon, but without the swallowtail. It is considered particularly scarce because it displays a design that was in service for only two years, from July 4, 1863 till July 3, 1865. It saw military service during a crucial period when tensions were high over the proposed secession of West Virginia from Virginia. The beautifully-preserved flag was formerly the property of a prominent Chicago family with an extensive military background; It is archivally mounted.

Collectors of early American weapons won’t want to miss the opportunity to bid on a silver-hilted Revolutionary War sword that was carried by Captain Isaac Hall, leader of the “Medford Minutemen,” on his march to Lexington. It was there that Hall entered the 37th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, an outfit that sustained heavy casualties during the war and is honored with a monument at Gettysburg. In 1775, Hall organized another unit from Medford that included patriots from surrounding towns. In 1776, they proceeded to Dorchester Heights, a crucial site where the Continental Army, under George Washington, forced the British to retreat and evacuate Boston, marking a significant turning point in the conflict. The auction sword—37 inches long with its original wire-wrapped bone grip—was given to Hall by John Fulton, who was a member of the Sons of Liberty and a participant in the Boston Tea Party. It was originally discovered in the attic of Hall’s 1720 house, which was the first stop on Paul Revere’s midnight ride and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

A noteworthy group lot consists of late-19th/early 20th-century solid gold US Distinguished Marksmanship medals all issued to the same man, Kellogg K V Casey (1877-1938). A Spanish-American War veteran and marksman of great distinction, Casey is regarded as having been an innovator in the sport of target shooting. He enlisted as a private in the New York National Guard in 1898, ultimately achieving the rank of 1st lieutenant. An exceptionally talented shooter, he won numerous medals in state competitions and was also one of six members of the US team that won a gold medal at the 1908 Summer Olympics held at the Bisley rifle range (UK). During WWI LQand in his subsequent civilian years, Casey worked at DuPont, where he was appointed to the critical role of director of military sales. The auction catalog provides an extensive breakdown of the lot’s contents, whose gold scrap value alone would be around $9,210.

An extremely rare cased example of the Nazi Luftwaffe Honor Salver for Distinguished Achievement, made by Johann Wagner & Sohn, is engraved to the obverse with the recipient’s name, rank and award date: FELDWEBEL HANS LANCE AM 6.6.43. It is one of an estimated 50-100 such salvers ever known to have ever been presented since the award’s inception on June 15, 1942, with conferees restricted to Luftwaffe ground troop members who had already received the Iron Cross 1st Class and Luftwaffe Ground Assault Badge. In a fitted leatherette case marked to the interior with the manufacturer’s name.

A WWII Nazi German SS nickel-plated officer’s sword with 32¼-inch Krebs-marked blade was designed with an upper built-in step area that accommodates the tang/pommel cap. The pommel itself retains crisp serration and has not ever been apart. Plating is excellent through the pommel, “D” guard and cross-guard area of the hilt, and the fine lower ferrule has six standing oak leaves and alternating acorns. The ebony grip is outstanding with all perfect ribs and no chipping, and is tightly wrapped with nickel wire and covered on the reverse with a matching cover plate. In the center obverse, a nickel SS runes-button has raised runes and a pebbled background. Also, the top fitting of the scabbard and guard are marked with SS runes.

A WWII Nazi German Wehrmacht uniform grouping is identified to Generalmajor Gerhard Karl Egon Schmidhuber (1894-1945). It includes very nice field gray wool/rayon blend trousers and a matching service tunic with a six-button closing. The tunic’s right breast has a neatly-stitched General Officer’s hand-embroidered gilt wire, bullion and accent-threaded national eagle with outstretched wings, clutching a wreathed canted swastika. The collar displays a pre-July 15, 1938 pattern and the collar tabs have bright red wool bases are hand-embroidered with Arabesque-style “Larisch” pattern ornamentation in bright gilt-wire threads. In 1944, Schmidhuber was supreme commander of German army forces in Hungary, where he died in action at the Battle of Budapest in 1945.

The brutality of the Nazi regime is reflected in an Elbert McGran Jackson (American, 1896-1962) oil-on-canvas painting measuring 32 inches by 22 inches. The subject appears to be the aggressive interrogation of a young woman by uniformed officers of the Wehrmacht and Allgemeine SS. A swastika flag on the wall carries the slogan “Ein Volk Ein Reich Ein Fuhrer (One People, One Nation, One Leader).” Jackson was a versatile painter and illustrator who created the cover art for more than 30 issues of the Saturday Evening Post.

A WWII uniform and M41 jacket grouping contains the property of Bronze Star recipient Major Charles Waldrop Sullivan (d. 1991), Headquarters Co., 1st Engineer Special Brigade. Sullivan landed in Normandy with the 1st ESB on D-Day, June 6, 1944. The lot includes Sullivan’s officer’s uniform jacket with all appropriate insignia, patches and ribbon bar. The uniform has a label dated March 1944 and includes trousers that match the jacket very well. The grouping also includes Sullivan’s officer’s service shirt and M43 field Jacket with all correct insignia, patches, overseas cuff stripes, and pins; and a well-matched second pair of trousers. Rounding out the selection are Sullivan’s WWII officer’s visor cap with a scarce wrap-around chinstrap, his equipment bag stenciled to the side C.W. SULLIVAN / 0304759, and various ephemera.

Milestone’s Sept. 26, 2026 Premier Military & Edged Weapons Auction will be held live at Milestone’s gallery located at 38198 Willoughby Parkway, Willoughby (suburban Cleveland), OH 44094, and webcast live. Start time: 10am ET. Preview on auction day from 8-10am. All forms of bidding will be available, including live via the Internet through Milestone Auctions’ own bidding platform, LiveAuctioneers, Invaluable or AuctionZip. For additional information on any item in the auction, call 440-527-8060 or email info@milestoneauctions.com. Online: www.milestoneauctions.com

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