An Amazing American Civil War
Centennial Discovery!

Mr. Kaufman can still recall when
a wondrous find went terribly wrong!

Rare genuine U.S Army (Union Army) Civil War enlisted men's blue, wool artillery 'shell jacket'.

THE YEAR WAS 1965 during the American Civil War Centennial (1961-1965), when Mrs. Kaufman made a memorable buying trip to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to visit Stokes Kirk, one of the oldest dealers of antique militaria in the United States.

While there, Mrs. Kaufman purchased from Mrs. Kirk herself, their last remaining unopened original wooden crate of fifteen genuine U.S. Army (Union Army) Civil War issue enlisted men’s navy blue wool artillery ‘shell jackets’ trimmed with red piping in brand new mint condition. It was an incredible find!

When the wooden crate was delivered to Kaufman’s city-block-long warehouse on Broadway in New York City, Mrs. Kaufman carefully unpacked the shell jackets herself and set aside the one she felt was the nicest. She then squirreled it away with dozens of other exceptional military surplus uniforms that Kaufman’s purchased on a weekly basis. Today, many of those same uniforms constitute the Kaufman Military Uniform Reference Collection, our own extensive military uniform collection assembled over 85 years in business. Afterwards, the other fourteen shell jackets were set aside to go to the cleaners…

Civil War 'shell Jacket - Kaufman's Army Navy
Civil War 'shell Jacket - Kaufman's Army Navy

During the 1960s, genuine military surplus from past wars still existed in great abundance, so together with hundreds of other new and used dress and combat uniform items of all types from World War I, World War II and the Korean War, these exceptionally rare Civil War gems were included in the dry-cleaning for that week as a precaution to destroy any possible moth larva in the wool from spreading throughout Kaufman’s two-story warehouse.

Sadly, the 100-year-old shell jackets were no match for the modern chemicals used in the dry-cleaning and they were all completely destroyed in the process. The remnant of each jacket was returned to us on a separate wire hanger in tatters; a collection of shredded navy-blue wool, interspersed with an occasional American Eagle brass button clearly visible.

150 years after this beautiful uniform was first manufactured for the U.S. Army, it holds a cherished place in the Kaufman Collection.