Every medical or Civil
War collector I know wants to buy a 'real' Civil War surgical set. So,
what do you have to do to get one? (In the case of myself and several
other collectors, we are preserving our history and buying sets and
other medical artifacts to make sure these historical treasures are
not discarded to the dustbin of our history as they were right after the
Civil War or when sterilization came into vogue.)
First and foremost, you
will have to be extremely lucky and knowledgeable to obtain a real, honest, Civil War set.
The safest set to buy, in my opinion, is one marked 'U.S. Army Medical or Hospital Dept.' with military
latches on the case and contracted for production by
famous American makers by the Union Army. (See the various articles about these sets on
this site.) (Note: the Confederate Army never contracted for
surgical sets and none will be marked as such to my knowledge. The
confederate States Army Medical Department used existing American-made sets and
purchased sets from Europe and the British during the War.)
There were over 4,000
contracted sets made just for the Union Army, so you would think the odds of finding one are
good if you know where to look. However, not all of these sets survived the end
of the War. Many were destroyed or sold at the end of the War.
One maker in particular, Hernstein, N.Y., sold many un-used sets at the end
of the War and he went bankrupt due to the over-production. At the end
of the War many sets which were not bought by the government, were sold at
auction to distributors and doctors.
When sterilization began in the 1870-80's, most of the earlier non-sterilization sets were
discarded in favor of instruments that could be heated and cleaned for
sterilization, thus creating the scarcity factor to consider. No one
knows how many of these sets survived. Unfortunately great numbers of
the sets created for use during the War were not preserved and were of
little or no value as sterilization came into use.
The place to look for Civil War era sets is in existing Civil
War collections or in the hall closet of a Civil War surgeon's family.
How do you find this elusive owner...well, that's the trick. You could try your hand at buying at auctions and hope you don't buy something
that was put together to sell to unsuspecting doctors who populate such venues
looking for a 'deal' on a Civil War surgery set. Most, if not all, of
those sets are suspect for a multitude of reasons: (replaced parts, put-together pieces, European origins,
out-right fraud, etc.)
There are two major groups
of contract ordered surgery sets: U. S. Army Hospital Department sets which
were specifically made for use during the Civil War. (There are
also U. S. A. Hosp. Dept. sets used during the Mexican War of 1846, so the
trick is to correctly identify the maker and production dates. See: Identify
Civil War era sets).
Secondly, there are U. S. Army Medical Department sets, which
existed and were used by Union surgeons before, during, and after the Civil War. With Medical Dept. sets
you have to figure out when the set was made via the address or style of the
case and instruments. It takes vast knowledge to get it right.
If you have a set and want it
evaluated,
contact me and I
will help you figure it out correctly.
Unmarked sets purchased
and used by the Confederate forces are very difficult to prove to have been
used during the War unless there is
documentation or evidence associated with the owner and a chain of ownership.
Again, the set must be verified as being made pre-War or made during the War.
Confederate sets may be of American, English or French origin. Otherwise, it's a crap shoot to say any given set is Confederate owned or
used. The Confederate sources were often pre-War American or European sets in
existence before the War or European sets obtained from blockade runners
during the War. To the best of my knowledge, no sets will be marked CSA
(Confederate States of America). Confederate sets are the most
difficult to prove to have been used during the War. Even if a given
set has been in a family for many years, unless there is original engraving on the
top of the set cartouche, proof is extremely difficult because there were
no 'official' surgery sets for Confederate surgeons to my knowledge.
Many Civil War era
doctors purchased surplus sets after the War so those sets would be in the family of
the surgeon and passed on to this day. In this case, it takes
knowledge to determine when the given set was made and thus determine when
or if it was ever used during the War. I have seen more than a few War-years
production sets that have had the cartouche (brass name plate) removed, turned over or the
engraving buffed off. The theory is a surgeon bought the sets and
didn't want the marking on it for the Army. More on this topic later.
There may have been European
and English sets used by northern doctors who served in the early days of
the War as 'contract' surgeons after local battles. Surgeons in
leading medical schools and hospitals also treated soldiers in the first
year of the conflict. The Union
and certainly the Confederate contract surgeon's may have (and the emphasis
is on 'May Have") brought their existing sets
or pocket kits with them. The source of
these sets would have been both European, English, and American in origin.
The trick is proving they were actually owned by the doctor and the set
existed before or during the War. This is extremely difficult, but not impossible. See additional
information on contract
doctors.
Regarding 'contract'
surgeons, there is an excellent reference by Dr. Bollet, Civil War Medicine:
Challenges and Triumphs, a well documented book where he makes the point
that contract surgeons to the Union Army were relegated to working in the rear area hospitals changing
dressings and attending to the general health of patients, not doing
complicated, amputations, or field surgery. The qualified surgeons were admitted to
the Union and Confederate Armies and reviewed for their competence or lack
there of, and eliminated from doing surgery if they did not pass muster.
My point here is once again that 'contract' part-time surgeons were not in the field or
rear hospitals using their surgery kits to amputate limbs or resect
fragments from bullet fractured bones. It just didn't happen often if
at all after the War was underway during the first year.
The real surgeons were in the regular Army, were supplied by the Army with Army
owned and purchased surgical sets, not the sets found in some closet one hundred
plus years after the fact, no matter how much some collectors or families
would like to romance that idea.
Someone telling you 'my great grand daddy was a
surgeon in the Civil War and this was his set' is a story I've heard way too
many times. If you have one, then be prepared to prove it with
letters, a Form 18, photos, and direct proof in the Roster of Regimental Surgeons
or the Medical and Surgical History of the Rebellion, that your great grand daddy really was a surgeon
and really did own 'that particular' set DURING or BEFORE the War. Such a set in the hands of
most dealers is reason to demand and get total proof of the provenance as
well as a written guarantee of ability to return the set if it isn't as
described. The other problem is proving the dates during which a given
set existed from that maker. Do not let some dealer bully you into
believing what he says is gospel because you don't know enough to even ask
the right questions. If you want advice on what is real and what might
not be real, contact me and I'll help you figure it out BEFORE you pay some
exorbitant price for a 'dealer certified' set. There are very few
individuals in America who can do this kind of verification and most of the
'experts' are well known.
The other major problem
is with surgical sets that 'belonged' to a documented Civil War surgeon.
There can be extensive provenance about the owner (surgeon) but the set will
be post-Civil War issue and simply 'owned' by the Civil War doctor after the
War. In that case, the surgical set is not 'Civil War', but merely
owned after the War by a Civil War doctor, assuming he ever owned it.
It could be a set just 'associated' with the doctor. Even with
engraved names, you can't believe all you see. (Check out the
following story about engraved brass owner cartouches or plaques. With the kind of
money real Civil War sets bring, you can't believe everything you see or
hear.
Another 'got'cha' problem
is that during the War, makers like Hernstein and Tiemann were so busy
producing for the Union War effort, apparently their production for the
civilian trade was reduced. After the War or during the last years of
the War, they started piecing together wood cases and instruments from
before and during the War to sell to the civilian trade. For that
reason, we see sets that contain War-time saws and bullet forceps, labels
from during the War, but cases made before the War. From a 'dating'
stand point, sometimes it's a nightmare to figure out who did what and when,
but experience is the great teacher and having seen hundreds of sets teaches
one what to look for and what to reject as being 'Civil War' issue.
See:
Instrument
sets specified by the U.S. Army Medical Department during the Civil War
1861-1865
See:
Identification of leather pocket surgical kits/sets/cases used during the
Civil War
To prove the point about
being careful what you believe and buy, I'll
tell you a story of one particular 'surgeons' set. Five or six years
ago, a woman contacted me about a set in her family, that supposedly
belonged to a relative who was apparently in the Civil War and was a doctor.
Documentation was not readily available when I talked to the owner, but
thought to exist. I saw photos of the set and determined the set was
indeed American made, but was civilian issue and unfortunately post 1870, so
it could not have been used during the Civil War. Now fast forward
six years to a gun show in my hometown in 2007. I stop and talk to a Civil War
dealer and in the discussion find out he had bought the set in question that I had
evaluated and subsequently found all the documentation for the relative and
'proved' the man was indeed a Civil War surgeon. Based on this
knowledge, the dealer proceeds to tell me how he removed the blank brass plaque on
top of the set and had it engraved for $100 by someone in Texas, and then
replaced it on the set top. He did this because he was satisfied this
set belonged to the Civil War surgeon and rightfully should have his name on
it!!!!! Only problem was he still didn't know the set was
missing a number of instruments and was made by Hernstein in c.1870's. Is that scary or what?
(The same dealer contacted me in 2008 to protest this story having been
posted on this site! (Me thinks 'he' duth protest too much!)
There is no end to what some people will do to scam the public.
A few more thoughts about
'provenance' supported sets. Just because someone shows up with a lot
of written information about a great set, you still have to prove the set belonged
to the owner/surgeon. The set has to be from the right time frame, and
to be something the owner 'could' have owned. This boils down to
documenting the dates of manufacture, the source of the set, then connecting
the set to the owner during the Civil War. (See an example of such a
set owned by a famous Union surgeon.)
One of the big problems
with buying any European set is dating the set to a specific time frame because there
is almost no information available about specific European and in most
cases English sets, with which you can date the sets to five or ten year
time frames. There are a couple of books on European and English
topics (Bennion, Kickup), but nothing to match
Edmonson's work on American
sets. I guess one could buy a European military set made immediately
before the War and romance about it being used in the War.
If you are a real
gambler, go play the game on eBay. Roll the dice, and make a bid on a
'True Civil War' set offered almost nightly. Typically they are listed
by the seller as "Civil War Era" to be safe. Documented Civil War sets
are rare. Finding one on eBay or at any auction is going to be pure
speculation on your part unless you possess a great deal of knowledge.
Be very, very
careful of certain dealers who actively sell mis-represented sets to
unsuspecting new collectors and especially doctors of any ilk. There is a dealer in New Orleans who sold
a number of surgical sets at very inflated prices to a doctor. The
doctor ended up in a divorce and was forced to sell his collection by the
wife's attorney. At the auction, the doctor found out, much to his
and his ex-wife's dismay, most of the sets he bought were either fakes, over
valued, or mis-represented and he took a financial beating. It happens
all the time. Know what you are buying. Get third party advice
and read.
You could hire a known
'Civil War expert' to assist and council your bidding for you on something
you dig up in an antique store or at auction, which may be the safest method. Pay
the expert $500 up front to authenticate the set or to do the bidding for you. If it turns out to be bogus, he owns
it, not you. If you want the name of someone who will do that, ask me
and I'll e-mail you the name or I can personally help you in certain situations.
The big advantage I have over you or someone like you, is I have seen many,
many hundreds of surgical sets and I know how to differentiate between
certain years of production from a given maker. You don't and it's not
likely you ever will. Knowledge is your only defense in the antiques
and collecting business.
Your best bet is to
attend Civil War shows and get to know as many collectors as
possible and ask a lot of questions. Read every single page in Edmonson's book on
American Surgical Instruments and know it cold before you buy. Read everything on this
web site too, because I've already invented the wheel and when you think you
know enough to jump in, then go right ahead and spend to your hearts content.
Keep in mind, some
dealers hype their sets as being "Civil War" because those sets bring a
premium. The same follows for dealers who 'plant' instruments in sets to
fill them out. You have to know what is correct and what is not or you
are going to end up with a set which is less valuable than what you paid or a
sore point in your collection. Again, I can help with authentication and
dates of
instruments and sets.
What I'm driving at
here, is you are not likely to get a serious Civil War set unless you get out
there and associate with other Civil War medical collectors with deep
knowledge. If you go to just any internet site or local antique shop and
think you are going to get an honest representation on a 'real' Civil War set... well, there's
that bridge in Brooklyn for you too.
Identification of Civil War Military surgical sets: USA Hosp. and Medical
Dept.
Dr. Michael Echols
Ft. Myers, Florida
