This is kinda neat...

[OD*]

I'd like to know the true story on it.
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=49271021

[Hunter]

Man OD that is really cool. I cannot say I have ever heard of such a thing so I am curious as well as to the story behind it.

[Hawkmoon]

That is fascinating.

I wonder what the reserve price is? I'm sure it's "mucho dinero."

[Johnny Peppers]

A fantasy piece with problems. The UNITED STATES PROPERTY has been reapplied to the frame of the pistol. The magazine in the pistol is Vietnam era, and the field glasses are Civil War era. The box looks like a childs chemistry set box, and all the markings are bogus. The phosphate steel cleaning rod is WWII or post WWII issue. The oil can has been painted black to leave U.S. markings exposed which were never on the can. The markings on the compass case are either painted or decals. The spare barrel marking also looks bogus, and is phosphate finished, and on and on.

[OD*]

Johnny, I think the mag is even newer than that, CAGE number comes up CHECK-MATE INDUSTRIES INC.
"Date CAGE Code Established: 1/11/1975."

[Tom]

I'm really curious about the pocket watch. I own a 1899 Elgin in a gold Roy case. It ain't worth much, but it's a family heirloom. I think it is funny that the seller states "The pocket watch was made by "ELGIN NATL. WATCH CO." and has no dates on it.". Of course not, it's a watch! But there are plenty of serial numbers inside the watch that can tell exactly when it was made. That's how I know when mine was made, its value, and what type of watch it is. Mine was considered at the time to be a woman's watch, and the watch shown in these pictures is just as small as the one I have. Of course, we're talking about 20 years later, and styles do change as we all know. Still, it seems a bit odd to me.

Since it already appears that the parts of this "collection" come from different eras, might it be possible that the value of the parts is greater than the whole? Like the Civil War era field glasses - might it's value on its own be worth anything even if the collection as a whole is questionable? I don't know. This sounds like a question for Antiques Roadshow. :)

[Hunter]

Well it looks like you all are all over this one. It is a shame someone is trying to this what to me now sounds like a scam.

[Doran]

I wonder if he would sell that High Standard "Match-Barrel" separately?

Maybe he was trying to get the effect of something like:
http://cgi.ebay.com/WWII-U-S-ARMY-OFFICER-PERSONAL-KIT-NEVER-USED_W0QQitemZ6632027715QQcategoryZ4726QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

There's an exhibitor at Tulsa along the railing upstairs who has, I believe, a paymasters box and some other kind of box with cradles for holding a 1911. However, they look like they've been thru one war at least.

[Hawkmoon]

Johnny, thanks for the reality check. I confess to looking only at the first few photos because my dial-up connection is so slow. Now I see some other issues, such as:

When did the U.S. Army issue French field glasses?

The top of that case is plywood. Did the Army build anything out of plywood in 1918? Was plywood even invented that long ago?

In the shot of the second ID plate, it looked to me like "ARMY" was missing a character. I doubt the U.S. Army would have issued a case bearing a plaque reading "ARY"

The seller has an A+ feedback rating, though. Do you reckon he knows it's faked, or do you suppose he got hoodwinked and is just passing along the favor?