It’s an extraordinary moment that stamps an exclamation point on hundreds of years of shameful history. Slavery. Jim Crow laws that segregated buses, restaurants and restrooms. Separate-but-not-equal schools. Restricted civil rights and liberties. All of which served to make blacks second-class citizens.

It took decades upon decades of sacrifice and sit-ins, lawsuits and lynchings before President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. And one man who championed the movement and gave his life to it was the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Collectibles and memorabilia shed light on an era

Collecting artifacts and memorabilia from the Civil Rights era helps preserve and contextualize both the facts and the emotions of this complicated time. Few commercial dealers have tackled the topic like Syl Turner, owner of the Broad Street Antique Mall in Chamblee, Ga.

Syl Turner

For two decades, Turner has maintained one of the nation’s largest commercial inventories of Black Americana collectibles. Online, Turner also operates the BlackHistoryStore.com and offers items on GoAntiques.

He has several King-related historical items on GoAntiques in the weeks leading up to the MLK holiday.

Interest in Black Americana grows

Turner said interest in King collectibles spikes around the holiday. But King collectibles—and Black Americana generally—have been steadily growing in importance and price. The holiday and the Obama inauguration draw extra attention to what’s available, but it’s a category that has transcended any particular event, he said.

“I see a little spike in activity around the King birthday, but that’s about it,” Turner said. “The additional interest actually continues through February because that’s Black History Month.”

The slain civil-rights leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate was born Jan. 15, 1929, but a national holiday and day of service honoring him is on the third Monday in January. It was observed for the first time on Jan. 20, 1986. Speaking of the importance of service, Dr. King said, “If you want to be important— wonderful. If you want to be recognized—wonderful. If you want to be great—wonderful. But, recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. That’s a new definition of greatness.”

King collectibles are difficult to come by even though he was a prolific writer, Turner said, because his widow, Coretta Scott King, and others “exerted direct control” over most of his documents.

Most King documents in institutions

More than two years after Mrs. King’s death, most of the large collections of King documents and personal effects are in institutional collections.

In 2006, Morehouse College—King’s alma mater—acquired 10,000 items from the King family for an undisclosed sum raised with the help of a private coalition of business and civic leaders. Sotheby’s, which had announced an auction date for the collection, estimated it would command up to $30 million.

The collection includes items ranging from canceled checks, to a term paper King wrote as a student at Morehouse, to a draft of his most famous speech, “I Have a Dream,” delivered at the 1963 March on Washington.

Anti-Vietnam speech outline withdrawn from auction

In December 2008, the King Center in Atlanta prevailed upon Sotheby’s to withdraw from auction three important King documents that singer Harry Belafonte sought to sell. Valued up to $1.3 million, they included an outline of King’s first speech opposing the Vietnam War and notes found in his pocket following his assassination.

“There’s not much out there for the average collector,” Turner said. “A handwritten letter is very difficult to find because most are in the hands of institutions.”

More commonly available are collectibles related to significant events in King’s life and items related to his family. Recently, Turner sold a 12-page program of installation services of King as Pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala., on Oct. 31, 1954. The church was the headquarters of the Montgomery bus boycott that propelled King into the national spotlight. The program was in excellent condition and commanded $3,500.

Turner has acquired several other examples of King-related items, often from parishioners at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta where King was co-pastor with his father.

For example, Turner is offering a rare eight-page Ebenezer Baptist Church bulletin dated June 30, 1974. During that service, King’s mother, Mrs. Alberta King, was shot and killed at the organ console by a deranged gunman as worshippers recited the Lord’s Prayer. Her husband, Martin Luther King Sr., was the pastor. The program has handwritten eyewitness notes of the murder, including the comment, “Worship began on Earth; completed in Heaven.”

Ebenezer Baptist Church program

Inside program

Another collectible related to King’s parents is a 1984 funeral program for Martin Luther King Sr. listed in near-mint condition. “It was in a lady’s Bible and looks like it came right off the press,” Turner said.

MLK Sr.'s funeral program

One of the larger collectibles is a limited-edition poster commemorating King’s life by artist Edie B. Eisenberg. The 40-by-30-inch poster is designed as an American flag and features famous King quotes. It is listed in excellent condition. “I don’t think it was ever circulated,”

Memorial flag poster

Also rare and unusual is a 20-page program for the Coretta Scott King Freedom Concert Program on May 23, 1965. The concert was presented by the Philadelphia Beauticians’ Association at the First African Baptist Church in Philadelphia.

Freedom concert program

Turner isn’t the only GoAntiques dealer with MLK collectibles available this month.

Alan Radwill of Guaranteed Autographs is offering an autographed copy of Dr. King’s 1964 book, “Why We Can’t Wait.” He used a fountain pen with blue ink to sign the title page.

"Why We Can't Wait"

Autographed page

Antique Goodies of New Zealand has a Martin Luther King, Negro Funeral Home advertising fan. Advertising fans were often distributed at funerals as a way to stave off the heat.

Funeral fan

Lake Murray Treasures has a gold-tone, filigree-metal double picture frame. On one side is a photo of Martin Luther and Coretta Scott King, on the other Robert Kennedy. Between them is an electric clock.

Clock

If you are interested in viewing Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, click here for a 17-minute video that includes it, or click here for a video with only the speech.

WorthPoint—Get the Most from Your Antiques & Collectibles

Call this the Big-Bucks-Oops Department

As the VietnamNet Bridge, an English-language online news site, tells it, Vietnam discovered a ship about 10 years ago that had sunk between 1727 and 1735. Remains of its cargo included thousands of what-are-now antiques, some of them precious Chinese pottery.

So far so good. The Vietnamese provinces of Ca Mau and Binh Thuan got the go-ahead to sell the trove. So what do they do? Decide to auction 76,000 pieces at Sotheby’s in Holland, that’s what.

Now that all the figures have been added and subtracted, the decision doesn’t look like such a great idea. The auction brought in 3 million euros—that’s$4.4 million. Then the Dutch income tax was subtracted. Now we’re down to $3.7 million. And of course, there’s the 20% that goes to Sotheby’s, the fees for protection, maintenance, etc. In the end, the Vietnamese saw less than $1.5 million.

It’s felt that Vietnam could have held the auction on its own turf and would have pocketed a lot more money.

$1-million doorstop

Are you, by any chance, missing a Picasso or two? Maybe a Giacometti?

This might be good news then. A large stash of stolen art has been located reports The Guardian . This bizarre theft story unfolded after the death of one William M.V. Kingsland. (He claimed the M and V stood for Milliken and Vanderbilt.)

Kingsland died without a will, and it was ordered that his collection of 300 art pieces be sold at auction. That’s when things got strange. A representative from one of the assigned auction houses went to take inventory in Kingsland’s Upper East Side Manhattan apartment and found artwork crammed all over, even under the bed. A Giacometti sculpture valued at $1 million was serving as a doorstop.

A gallery owner, who bought a John Singleton Copley portrait for $85,000, decided to check its provenance and discovered it had been stolen from Harvard University.

Other pieces were checked and came up also stolen. Then it was found that Kingsland had been living a lie. In rubbing shoulders with New York blue bloods, he claimed to be a Harvard graduate, been married to French royalty, lived in a fancy Fifth Avenue apartment. He was, in fact, the son of Jewish refugees from Europe who lived in the Bronx, not exactly blue-blood territory.

The FBI is looking for the rightful owners of the purloined pieces.

And the winner is . . .

A beautifully restored 1938 Alfa Romeo. And the competition is . . . the 58th Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.

As The New York Times notes, “owners don’t just take the muscle car they owned as a teenager and give it a shine” when they enter this crème-de la-crème event.

The Concours is definitely for serious collectors of classic cars who can afford authentic restoration. That’s authentic down to knowing that Phillips-head screws weren’t used before the 1930s, so they better not show up in a 1926 Rolls-Royce.

Restorers search out original brochures and manuals, photos of the car being manufactured, the tools that were used and pictures of the first owners. The more documentation the better because the judges want proof that the restoration was done accurately.

Oh, the owner of the winning Alfa? That would be Jon Shirley, who was the president and CEO of Microsoft. Guess he can afford having megapricey collectibles if anyone can.

I’ve attended the KC Military Show for over a decade and I cannot think of a time where I left the venue empty handed. Admittedly, this time I tried my best not to purchase anything because I just bought a WWII 2nd Bn. Ranger uniform group and I did not want to test my wife’s generosity with more purchases this month. I got sidetracked from my plan when I peeked at Allan Henderson’s table and saw a beautiful Eisenhower D-Day letter with a price I could not pass up. I had to snatch that as well as a few small dollar items. The rest of my time was spent visiting with friends and watching them spend money.

The show had approximately 280 tables (50 less than last year). This should not have been a surprise considering gas prices and the economy in general. Despite the smaller turnout, there was plenty of very nice militaria for sale. My interest is primarily in WWII and Vietnam, so my observations have that bias. I noticed more high-end German headgear this year, as well as some nice US and Japanese headgear (see images). There were a lot of US medals and medal groups, but most were higher than market price in my opinion. I did not see many breathtaking uniform groups for sale, but my friend picked up a very nice 511th PIR group on Friday with Ike jacket, two shirts, two OS (Overseas) caps, and trousers. Later that night we ID’d the Airborne vet in NARA as well as other sources.

The show had other staple attractions including military vehicle displays and static impressions. I noticed an impressive table of German Lugers as well as several WWII USMC and Army uniform and equipment displays. There was also a table of veteran buffalo soldiers to hear stories from.

One unrelated highlight that I need to mention is that on Friday night I had the best barbecue in my life at Hillsdale Bank Barbecue (Street: 201 Frisco Hillsdale, KS 66036 Phone: (913) 783-4333). It’s outside Kansas City, but so worth the drive. I had a half rack of spare ribs, coleslaw, baked beans, and sweet potato fries. Their sauce is award winning KC style and the meat was smoked to perfection.

I am definitely planning on attending the KC Military Show and Hillsdale Barbecue next year!

KC Military Show Hours:
Friday 5pm – 9pm
Saturday 9am – 5pm
Sunday 9am – 3pm

Chris Hughes is a WorthPoint Worthologist specializing in 20th century militaria and the owner of Rally Point Militaria and Vietnam Uniform – Military Collectibles sites.

I was excited to obtain a copy of SOG: Team History and Insignia of a Clandestine Army, the much-anticipated book written by SOG authority Jason Hardy (www.thedogtag.com) with help from author/dealer Mike Tucker (www.authenticmilitaria.com). Jason is well known in the militaria collecting community as a specialty dealer focused on SOG and Special Forces memorabilia from the Vietnam War. In fact, several of my favorite SOG pieces in my collection have come from Jason. Mike Tucker is known for his excellent self-published books on Third Reich insignia, but he is also an advanced Special Forces collector.

For those not familiar, SOG (Studies and Observations Group) was an elite Special Forces unit during the Vietnam War created for the purpose of reconnaissance. SOG teams were inserted into denied areas (primarily Laos) to monitor enemy activity along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. This small unit reported directly to the White House and their activities remained classified until recently.

SOG teams varied in size, but were typically comprised of three US members and three indigenous members. The indigenous members came from various groups including Chinese Nungs, Cambodes, Montagnards, Ex North Vietnamese Soldiers (Chieu Hoi’s), or South Vietnamese personnel. Positions on a SOG team were experience-based, not rank-based. A team leader was called a “1-0” (One Zero). Assistant team members were 1-1, and 1-2 respectively. Indigenous team members were the inverse (0-1, 0-2, 0-3, etc).

This book focuses on the history of seven SOG Recon Teams from CCN (Command and Control North) and CCC (Command and Control Central). The authors intend to cover additional teams in subsequent volumes. The recon teams in this volume include:

1. RT Asp
2. RT Colorado
3. RT Hawaii
4. RT Idaho
5. RT Indigo
6. RT Montana
7. RT Rattler

Each chapter provides a chart containing names of the American recon team members in chronological order along with their position. The pages of the book are comprised of never published SOG images from each team along with brief captions. The photo quality is superior to all other SOG books and the book itself is well made with high quality pages and binding.

There are many beautiful scans of authentic SOG recon patches. Many of the pieces are directly attributed to the vet with solid provenance. These insignia images are superior quality to all preexisting SOG and Special Forces books. Additional highlights include an appendix in the back providing a reference section of all the recon team patch variations from Vietnam, Thailand, Okinawa, and elsewhere. There is also a chapter explaining the history of the notorious “Cheap Charlie” patches. This information has never been published before and is a real asset to Vietnam insignia collectors. The book is on par with Shelby Stanton’s long out of print Special Forces at War: An Illustrated History, Southeast Asia 1957-1975, in that the images are so amazing, you can pick this book up 1000 times and discover something new in a photo that you overlooked before.

The only disappointment I have with this book is that it lacks images of the amazing uniforms and equipment Jason Hardy has collected directly from SOG vets. I hope he will consider including these in his next book. Overall, SOG: Team History and Insignia of a Clandestine Army is a must have for any military historian or collectors’ library.

Chris Hughes is a WorthPoint Worthologist specializing in 20th century militaria and the owner of Rally Point Militaria and Vietnam Uniform – Military Collectibles sites.

Read Chris’s WorthPoint articles.

I recently won a Vietnam era Special Forces beret from an online auction. Prior to bidding, I emailed the seller with specific questions because the auction description was vague and the accompanying image was not great. The seller never responded to my questions, but I could tell that the insignia was a desirable variation, so I took my chances and placed a bid anyway.

When I received the beret in the mail I was relieved to see that it was a beauty! This 1963 dated beret was made by the Canadian manufacturer “Fleur De Lis”. Early on, conventional Army brass prohibited berets from being worn by Special Forces. In 1962 Special Forces personnel pulled a gutsy move and wore their unauthorized berets in front of President Kennedy during a Special Warfare demonstration. After the demonstration, Kennedy remarked that he liked the look of the beret and its fate was sealed as the official headgear for Special Forces.

The government did not secure a contract to manufacture berets until around 1965. Until then, berets were purchased from Fleur De Lis. The anatomy of a Vietnam era Special Forces beret includes:

1. The beret – Official color is called “Rifle Green”. Wartime government and Canadian berets have a real leather band (not vinyl), two black enamel painted vent grommets, a leather tab sewn to the lining behind the vent grommets, and a black cotton lining with nomenclature and/or a maker mark silk screened in white ink. The print is often faded on worn berets. Many wartime berets have the lining completely removed to be lighter, cooler, and form a better drape.

2. The Flash – The shield shaped patch sewn on the beret. These patches come in different colors to denote each SF Group. The flash on this beret is yellow with a black border and is used by 1st Special Forces Group stationed in Okinawa, Japan.

3. The DI – The DI or distinctive insignia pin is affixed to the beret through the flash. Enlisted Men and Non Commissioned Officers wear the Special Forces DI (shown on this beret), baring the the motto “De Oppresso Liber” meaning “Liberate the Oppressed”. Officers pin their rank through the flash in lieu of a DI.

What makes this newly acquired beret unique is that the yellow 1st SFGA flash is theater-made, meaning it was made in theaters of operation (typically Japan, Vietnam, or Thailand). This type of insignia is highly sought after by collectors and tends to be slightly irregular in shape, color, and construction in comparison with regular mass-produced insignia.

1st Group flashes were originally solid yellow, but after Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963 a black border was added to memorialized their largest support of special warfare. The black border on this theater-made flash is crude making it more appealing than ordinary examples.

The DI is a rare “skull harp” pattern where there are holes in the harp look like skulls facing each other. This insignia is early and highly sought after. The DI was also made by Meyer and bears a nice hallmark. Early DI’s are seldom found hallmarked.

The best surprise with this beret was finding a small, embroidered tag with the veteran’s name and Army Serial Number sewn inside the lining. I was able to search rosters and find that this veteran was with 1st Special Forces Group and assigned to an early TDY team stationed in Thailand in 1964. It is very likely that this beret was worn during this operation.

Having this beret attributed to a veteran makes this very special to collectors and historians. Without provenance the beret is still collectible, but it value is only determined by the sum of its parts, whereas firm provenance can double or triple the value. Not only does research add value, it preserves the history of this beret and the veteran who wore it.

Chris Hughes is a WorthPoint Worthologist specializing in 20th century militaria and the owner of Rally Point Militaria and Vietnam Uniform – Military Collectibles sites.

Until recently, little was known or published about MACV-SOG, an elite US Special Forces reconnaissance unit in Vietnam. SOG was under joint command by 5th Special Forces Group and CIA with an objective to recon and disrupt the Ho Chi Minh trail by running cross-border operations into denied areas, primarily Laos and Cambodia. SOG recon teams were small, typically 6 to 8 men. They had a 1-0 (pronounced “One Zero”) who was the team leader, a 1-1 assistant team leader, and a 1-2 radioman. The remaining personnel were indigenous mercenaries. Depending on region, they could be Chinese Nungs, Montagnards, Cambodes, or Vietnamese.

The 1-0 was a leader with innate skill coupled with experience. Rank was irrelevant on SOG teams. Being “good in the woods” is what ultimately determined survival or failure. 1-0’s commanded respect from all of the Special Forces community. The 1-0 jacket was a symbol worn at camp to distinguish themselves from other SOG personnel. The 1-0 jacket was awarded to 1-0’s after completion of the Recon Team Leader course at Long Than. Initially, they were intended to be worn in the field. Photographic evidence verifies this. However, the nylon material was noisy in the brush, so 1-0’s opted to wear them in camp only. Often times, jackets were modified with direct embroidery bearing the wearers name and SOG related themes like recon team names, “shell burst” skulls, etc.

There were three patterns of 1-0 jacket. The first pattern (shown here) is a pull over with a removable hood. There are two front slash pockets, single snap cuffs, and a rear map pocket in the lower back with a snap closure. There is a small oilskin tagged marked “M” inside the hood and collar to denote size (medium). The second and third patterns are not pullover and do not have a removable hood. SOG was a relatively small unit, so these jackets are extremely rare and often overlooked as being a simple windbreaker.

Chris Hughes is a WorthPoint Worthologist specializing in 20th century militaria and the owner of Rally Point Militaria and Vietnam Uniform – Military Collectibles sites.

The next pair are considered true 1st pattern because they actually saw a fair amount of use in Vietnam. They resemble the later jungle boots with the exception of the following differences:
I. They were issued with shoe laces rather than round boot laces
II. The metal vent grommets on the sides are inverted and concave
III. They lack nylon web ankle and other reinforcements
IV. They have black leather trim across the top of the boot and up the back of the heel

The pair in my collection is dated 1962, but most found are 1963 dated.

The 2nd pattern jungle boots are similar to 1st pattern with the exception of the following changes:
I. The metal vent grommets are no longer concave and inverted. They resemble the vent grommets on all later patterns.
II. They no longer have black leather trim across the top of the boot and up the back of the heel. The leather is now replaced with nylon web.

The pair I have in my collection are 1965 dated, but I’ve had examples that were 1964 dated.

The 3rd pattern jungle boots have the following changes:
I. They are now issued with boot laces (rather than the shoe laces)
II. They have nylon web ankle reinforcements
III. They began to have spike resistant soles to protect the feet from punji sticks. Some boots have this feature while others do not.

The pairs I have in my collection are dated between 1966 and 1968.

The 4th pattern jungle boots incorporated a “Panama” sole to replace the waffle sole.

There are some subtle differences within the various models, but that is due to manufacture differences and my point is to illustrate the major differences.

Chris Hughes is a WorthPoint Worthologist specializing in 20th century militaria and the owner of Rally Point Militaria and Vietnam Uniform – Military Collectibles sites.