relichound
Corporal
- Joined
- May 17, 2007
I bought this at a large local Gettysburg auction in October 2009 at the Reddings auction site.
I still have the auction notice and what it says about this relic, an eagle breast plate.
"US eagle breast plate, (Found by local resident- John Cullison) Found east
of the stone wall - Wheat Field. (Rosensteel Collection)"
Who was John Cullison? He is well know among local Gettysburg collectors as a man who
was badly wounded in the head in WWII, and when he returned not able to find decent
employment, because of the effects of his wound. (How soon we forget!)
He came to search the fields and woods in the Gettysburg battlefield area for the old relics, and was quite good at it. Later he was one of the first local people to use the post WWII mine detectors to find relics. I am told that when the old Electric map museum was at Gettysburg
that most of the excavated relics there were found by him.
Of course, today it is not legal to hunt relics on US park property.
By the way there were a couple auctions around those times and I remember bidders
there from some of the largest CW dealers, and some rare items went for thousands,
but this was a fairly common item.
I still have the auction notice and what it says about this relic, an eagle breast plate.
"US eagle breast plate, (Found by local resident- John Cullison) Found east
of the stone wall - Wheat Field. (Rosensteel Collection)"
Who was John Cullison? He is well know among local Gettysburg collectors as a man who
was badly wounded in the head in WWII, and when he returned not able to find decent
employment, because of the effects of his wound. (How soon we forget!)
He came to search the fields and woods in the Gettysburg battlefield area for the old relics, and was quite good at it. Later he was one of the first local people to use the post WWII mine detectors to find relics. I am told that when the old Electric map museum was at Gettysburg
that most of the excavated relics there were found by him.
Of course, today it is not legal to hunt relics on US park property.
By the way there were a couple auctions around those times and I remember bidders
there from some of the largest CW dealers, and some rare items went for thousands,
but this was a fairly common item.
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