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WORLD WAR ONE GROUPING OF A SOLDIER’S PERSONAL
EFFECTS – RED CROSS GIFT BAG, FULLY EQUIPPED SOLDIER’S
PHOTOGRAPH, & WALLET: This is a nice grouping
of the sort of personal effects of a World War One
soldier with the American Expeditionary Force on the
front lines in France. This grouping consists of three
items, each described below with accompanying
photographs. This would make a nice addition to a
display or grouping of a World War One soldier’s
equipment. All three pieces for one price. (0107) $75
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RED CROSS GIFT BAG: These bags were
handed out to the soldiers by the Red Cross and
contained such personal items as tobacco products,
candy, chewing gum, razors, toothbrushes, tooth paste,
soap, small sewing kits, stationary and envelopes –
almost an endless variety of items intended to ease and
improve the life of the soldier in the field, if only
for a brief moment. Once the items were consumed, the
soldiers found any number of uses for these bags and I’m
sure most of them were used to destruction, not
surviving in any large quantity today.
Measuring 12” tall and 7 ½” wide, this bag is made of
tan cotton muslin cloth and is finished with a draw
string top. The bag has survived intact, with no holes
or tears, and while showing signs of use and soiling, is
in overall very good condition. The front of the bag is
decorated with a stitched on American Flag patch – the
stripes and field of stars printed on the flag’s
material. The OD green pull tape is full length with no
fraying or other damage. On the inside of the front
edge of the bag is stitched a 1” square label bearing
the Red Cross emblem on a white field, identifying the
source of the bag and the contents.
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IMAGE OF A
WORLD WAR ONE FULLY EQUIPPED SOLDIER: Known as
a “Real Photograph Post Card”, these images were popular
in the early 20TH Century, as an inexpensive
way to share a picture with the folks back home. The
photographer would take the image, and print it on card
stock preprinted on the reverse with the “POST CARD”
title and the necessary fields to complete it for
mailing. This image captured a World War One era US
Army soldier in full field kit, ready to ship out to
France, or possibly already in a rear area of the
Western Front. The card is full form, measuring 5 ½” by
3 1/3”. It shows no edge wear or bumps and there are
two tiny holes in the upper corners where it was likely
displayed, suspended by pins, by a loved one at home.
 
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WORLD WAR
ONE PERIOD WALLET: Typical of the type of
personal purchase wallets carried by the soldiers, this
ox-blood colored leatherette wallet measures 8” long and
3 ½” wide when closed. Fully open it measures 10 ¾”
wide. The wallet has various pockets and folios to
store the soldier’s papers, currency and probably a
photograph or two. The overall condition is very good,
with some minor separation to the center pockets where
they are connected to the outside of the wallet. Still,
this wallet displays well and is not fragile. One
interesting feature is a universal calendar on the face
of the center section where the soldier could align the
day of the week with the appropriate first date of the
month and all the other dates would then be aligned
correctly for the rest of the month.
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