John Henry Kurtz Auction

[Blanket Head]

Re: John Henry Kurtz Auction

Elizabeth,
Unfortunately you are incorrect in the statement that US Army was able to purchase some items from the Kurtz collection. I work for the Museum (the Army Heritage Museum) at Carlisle that was in the process of working the possible donation from John Henry. And as previously mentioned we were unable to come up with the funds he was requesting. We were able however to see the entire collection first hand (and even had a couple of pieces of headgear on exhibit for three months) before handing it back over. It was indeed a one of a kind collection that probably would have been best suited in the public's domain for the rest of eternity; but alas red tape can always be a killer.

Regards,

Kaleb Dissinger

[Son of Eire]

Re: John Henry Kurtz Auction

Anyone take photographs at the auction that they'd care to share?

[bizzilizzit]

Re: John Henry Kurtz Auction

Before he passed, John Henry was working on a deal with the US Army to buy his entire collection - he did want to keep it together! The Army ran out of money last year and may have purchased it this year, but the collection was passed to his brother when he died, who decided to auction it off.
Elizabeth

From what I've been told, the US Army was able to purchase quite of bit of John Henry's collection, so some of it may end up on display, somewhere, at some point, for others to enjoy.
Elizabeth Topping

[garyjd]

Re: John Henry Kurtz Auction

I too was able to see the preview for the lots and it was pretty breathtaking seeing so many great things all at once. I'm sure most of this stuff will now disappear into private collections. ~Gary

[Slouch]

Re: John Henry Kurtz Auction

I went to the auction last Friday. It was NUTS! Most items were inside of displays, but they would take anything you wanted out of the case for you to hold, unfold, measure, photograph, etc. I had the feeling they would have let me try on the original frock coats had I asked . The auction staff were very cooporative. They gave us free auction cataloges, one from the Thursday and Friday auctions. They are just as nice as Echo's of Glory.

[FranklinGuardsNYSM]

Re: John Henry Kurtz Auction

Never mind the hats, check out the form on that Support Arms!

Obsessed much? You bet.

[Uncle Pig]

Re: John Henry Kurtz Auction

Interesting that in this post:

http://historical.ha.com/common/view_item.php?Sale_No=6015&Lot_No=57308

The men are wearing Canada hats that are normaly associated with Michigan units but they are lister as the 6th Maine?

Also Found this one:

http://historical.ha.com/common/view_item.php?Sale_No=6015&Lot_No=57651

[Canebrake Rifle Guards]

Re: John Henry Kurtz Auction

Before he passed, John Henry was working on a deal with the US Army to buy his entire collection - he did want to keep it together! The Army ran out of money last year and may have purchased it this year, but the collection was passed to his brother when he died, who decided to auction it off.
Elizabeth

The Army really wanted to buy it. The fellow that tried to make it work is an old colleague of mine. Typically government agencies are not prepared for such large aquisitions, but when JH decided to try to work a sale, Carlisle Barricks hunted around their budget and found money that could properly be used to acqure the collection. However they were not able to consumate the deal within that fiscal year, and as you know, unspent budget money is generally taken away. So when JH was ready to make the deal, it was a new fiscal year and the money they had potenially to buy the collection was now gone. JH passed away and the collection devolved to his brother.

Greg Starbuck

[GreencoatCross]

Re: John Henry Kurtz Auction

Dean,

Fantastic information, thank you very much for sharing!!!

[DougCooper]

Re: John Henry Kurtz Auction

Before he passed, John Henry was working on a deal with the US Army to buy his entire collection - he did want to keep it together! The Army ran out of money last year and may have purchased it this year, but the collection was passed to his brother when he died, who decided to auction it off.
Elizabeth

Sounds like John Henry. Sure do miss him.

[LeatherHead]

Re: John Henry Kurtz Auction

I was able to examine John Henry's J.T. Martin infantry jacket maybe 5 years ago. From memory, it was identified to a Union light artillery enlisted man whose name I have written down somewhere. With the jacket laid out right in front of you, it is quite evident that the JTM product was altered in its time of use at the cuffs, the lining and the collar. The wool of the body has lost its knap from wear and in person now almost looks like gaberdene. The small eagle staff buttons were not the 1st set on the coat but appear to have been on it during its use.

The JTM cuff featured working pairs of button holes and typical openable slit. The modification sewed the slit closed, "blinded" the button hole (I think) and re-sewed the now-non-functioning buttons at the end of the original button hole.

The JTM collar was opened at the top seam by cutting & removing stitching for most of its length, possibly to remove JTM stiffening. That seam was simply pinched shut and, I recall, overcast stitched to close it.

The jacket retained most of its JTM lining, but received another full lining of the fabric that lines most regulation Union enlisted uniform coats; sometimes that (now) black/green fine twilled cloth is called "alpaca" and is thought to be a wool/silk mixture. The front panels of that added lining were padded and the presence of the JTM lining and 2nd lining made for a heavy garment, quite bulky-looking. The 2nd lining featured extra pocket(s).

Some of the JTM-machined long seams gave out under use and were repaired from the outside by hand overcast stitches.

That's what I recall from my time with it, to reduce the speculation a bit.....

yours in the hobby....

Dean Nelson
1st MD Infantry, CSA; N-SSA

[LibertyHallVols]

Re: John Henry Kurtz Auction

I follow ya. Still, seems like that would be an awful lot of bulk, as that would amount to four layers of wool at the front of the collar.

Very true. Perhaps the folded section was sewn together and clipped like a dart. I think only a hands-on examination would be able to show for sure. I'd love to get my hands on it, even for only a few minutes!!! If anyone has a chance to examine it at the auction, I (and many other, I'm sure) would love to hear any observations on this feature!

Nomatter how that collar was put together, that is one interesting jacket!!!

[FranklinGuardsNYSM]

Re: John Henry Kurtz Auction

I follow ya. Still, seems like that would be an awful lot of bulk, as that would amount to four layers of wool at the front of the collar. That would also preclude the inclusion of an in-the-seam hook-and-eye collar closure, assuming this jacket or any of its siblings were ideally meant to have one. In the blown-up view of the jacket front, I feel like I'm looking at a barely discernible seam at the top of the collar, visible most before it curves around toward the back, keeping with the usual outer collar folded down at the edges, and a raw inner collar attached around the edges often encountered on these. (Photos attached of the Byam jacket of probable SA manufacture.)

The photos in the auction gallery are great for their size, but frustrating because they're not really "high-res." Hard to tell what's actually part of a garment, and what's a line of pixels.

[LibertyHallVols]

Re: John Henry Kurtz Auction

John Wickett wins the prize.

Great! What did I win??? :D I have a great idea for a prize!! :wink_smil
(Where's Don Pardo when you need him!)

On the coat:
My initial thought when I saw this detail was that it was a labor-saving measure. I don't think it is piecing because it would be a small triangular piece at each end of the collar... yet, if you follow the diagonal seam, it doesn't go all-the-way to the corner of the collar piece. If it were pieced, it would go all-the-way.

Also, collars are pretty small pieces, so it shouldn't be that hard to find a scrap large enough to make a collar piece. I would find it hard to imagine a seamster/seamstress making the effort.

It appears to me that two pieces, perhaps even simple rectangles, were joined together, forming a center seam, then placed right-sides-together with the outer collar. Then, they were (perhaps) turned inside (at which point the fold would have been formed) and stitched down as we see it today. I would imagine that excess material was probably trimmed away from the seam allowance before setting the lining.

[CompanyWag]

Re: John Henry Kurtz Auction

My initial interpretation of the inner collar is that it was pieced by hand, and we're looking at the seam of where that occurred. I hope that this jacket will be on display at the auction and that we'll get some answers.

That was initially my thought as well, but a closer look at the inside view of the collar (near the center where the wear/moth hole is), the collar edge is flattened out and apparently shows no seam or even top stitching. If true, this is an interesting labor-saving detail as used by the Martin firm.

Paul McKee