APPRAISER: At the end of the day, this gentleman walks up
with a cartridge pouch thrown over his shoulder.
And I look at it and I thought, "Well, that's just a reproduction."
And he takes it off very roughly, and he
throws it, literally throws it on the table.
I'm like, "That can't be."
And I got to looking and I'm like, "oh my goodness, it is!"
"oh my goodness, it is!"
And I start talking to the guy and he has no
idea what he has. GUEST: It's what I believe
is a Civil War cartridge pouch. Has a
regimental number on it and I don't know if that's a New York regiment
or a Massachusetts regiment. APPRAISER: Where'd you get it at?
GUEST: It was in the house that my
parents bought down on the Cape at the very end of World War II,
and there were a bunch of things
in the attic,
and, uh,
that's where it came from. APPRAISER: Would you be surprised if I told you it's a
little earlier than Civil War?
GUEST: Yeah, I would be.
APPRAISER: Well, in the century before then, we had
some guys come over from England, and they wore
red coats. And if you notice in the center
of the plate, it's got some red. GUEST: I noticed that.
APPRAISER: That's because this is an original Revolutionary War
soldier's cartridge box. GUEST: No kidding.
APPRAISER: And it's not 43rd New York, and it's not 43rd
Massachusetts, it's
the 43rd Light Infantry
of the British solders from the Revolutionary War. GUEST: My lord!
APPRAISER: On the outside of the box it had,
to this point, the only known
non excavated example of that
plate. And the plate says 43rd
Light Infantry. That was strictly the
way the British would refer to that
regiment.
They were not only in Boston, they were at the Battle of Bunker Hill. GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: They were at the Battle of Lexington. GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: Yes, and we don't know for sure, but it's quite possible that this
cartridge box that's sitting between us today was
at those battles. GUEST: Really?
APPRAISER: I found out later that the box
was probably made just a little bit
after Bunker Hill. But could have been at Yorktown.
And a lot of times when we do an appraisal
after the fact, we learn things that we didn't know.
We know a lot, but we don't know it all. I had people
inform me that we were two kinds of cartridge boxes
for the British. They had a belly mounted cartridge box
and the one that goes over the shoulder
like this one is known as a cartridge pouch.
A lot of times over the years when we've
had somebody bring in a cartridge box or cartridge pouch
that they think is Civil War, it's either
a reenactor's piece, or it's post-war
and worth a lot less so usually we have to tell 'em
not so happy news. This
was wonderful because I got to tell him not only
was it a lot better than what he thought it was,
it was spectacular.
There aren't enough superlatives for this box. GUEST: Really?
APPRAISER: It's got the original buff leather shoulder sling.
The box is solid as a rock, it's just
flawless. It's got the original
closure tab
still present, it's got the original wooden block on the inside of it.
It's go the original finial
on the bottom, the metal finial. And
finding all of those things together
is like lining up all of those numbers on a lottery ticket.
It doesn't happen but once every so often. GUEST: Hmm!
APPRAISER: If this was a Civil War cartridge box,
with the sling and everything, you're talking around $1,000
maybe $1,500 if it's really pretty. This is a whole different
ballgame with this one.
This one on today's market would retail
for between $20,000 and $25,000.
GUEST: My lord.
That's amazing.
I mean, it's amazing that it's Revolutionary War.
APPRAISER: We get done, we go back over
and I always make it a point to say hi to
the person and to thank them for being there. And
he's like, "well that was really neat."
And he throws it back over his shoulder,
and he bee-bops out of the room. And I haven't heard
a word from him. I'm hoping that he's not wearing that
box around the Cape somewhere today. I tell the guy
what I think is a conservative value.
I wasn't a very smart man, because after the fact I realize that
it's the only one. If you want one, you have to buy that one.
And in 2019, I think without a doubt
it would bring at least $50,000, and it wouldn't surprise me at all
if it didn't bring twice that, if the right people were in the room.