Civil War books have been indispensable to us in our journey collecting antique American weaponry.  Now, I don't mean books about the war and various battles, etc.  I am talking about picture books that feature photographs of actual Civil War relics, memorabilia, weapons, uniforms and more.

When people see our Civil War collection, the primary question we get is - "Where did you get all this stuff?".  The answer is that it took time studying the aforementioned "picture books" to learn how to identify items from the Civil War.

We began by purchasing books on the Civil War that showed pictures of everything from a syringe to a sword.  By studying the photographs and reading about these items, we learned to identify them when we saw them.  Thus our early buying days were spent scouring antique malls, looking for that obscure item that nobody was educated enough to know was from the Civil War.

Later, after we learned how to identify a fake or reproduction from the real thing, we bought more valuable items such as swords, guns and knives from estates and collections. 

To view reference books on the Civil War click here.