As the director of the new Historic Arms & Militaria Department at Bruneau & Co Auctioneers, I wanted to introduce myself. My name is Joel Bohy and I grew up in Concord, Massachusetts, studying the American Revolution and associated material culture. As I got older my interests spread and I began collecting Civil War as well as WWI and WWII uniforms, equipment, weapons, and eventually I restored a WWII Willys Jeep that I still drive today. I love all the aspects of collecting from tracking down objects, studying them, and shooting some of the weapons to understand their function. It has been a passion for quite some time. I’m also very interested in Conflict Archaeology and volunteer on many projects across the country. Part of that also encompasses ballistics of firearms used in the American Revolution. For the past seven years I was Director of Arms & Militaria at Skinner Auctions but decided to move along and start this department at Bruneau.
The arms and militaria market is still very positive today. While some items have dropped down in value, many are still very strong. Identified objects with a provenance can lead to more information about the person who carried the item and what battles they fought in. This adds to the historic and monetary value and can make an item more cherished in a collection. We will be looking for this type of material as well as all sorts of military items. While earlier items like muskets, cartridge boxes, canteens, and uniforms can have more individual value, some later items can be grouped into lots that also do quite well. If you have an individual item or a collection, let us know! We would be happy to take a look and give you auction estimates.
I really look forward to building and growing the department with the Bruneau & Co team. They are as passionate with their material as I am with mine!
