bay state militaria

Bay State Militaria - Following a lifelong passion for the military, Scott Karska founded Bay State Militaria ten years ago. The business has grown to become one of the leading suppliers of US military and quality 19th and 20th century American military uniforms.

We are all in this together. In order to report on the state of the military collectibles market, Military Trader aims to discover and share the opinions of the hobby's leading dealers and collectors. This month we had the privilege of speaking with Scott Karska. Most people recognize his name as one of the leading dealers of the Spanish-American, World War I, World War II and Vietnam armies, under the banner of the "Gulf States Army". However, what some may not know is that he is also a prolific author and collector, specializing in World War I American Volunteer Service materials and Vietnam "Brown Water Navy" items.

Bay State Militaria

Scott has been collecting militaria since 1979. A 1990 graduate of Babson College, he spent years in marketing for computer software companies before founding Bay State Militaria in 2005, following his first love of buying, selling, collecting and displaying militaria.

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According to Scott, Bay State follows a few very simple rules: "1) We guarantee the authenticity of the items we sell, a lifetime warranty and 2) I don't offer anything on our website that I wouldn't put in my collection. ."

Bay State will be 10 years old on August 1, 2015. Scott replied, "We hope you were as pleased as we were to work with all of you!"

Although the Gulf state offers a wide variety of military relics, Scott is known for his expertise in World War II materials. With over 34 years of experience buying, selling, trading and collecting, he has a very good sense of hobbies and interests. We are pleased to offer your answers to our “10 questions about collecting World War I materials in the United States.

Military Trader: Thank you very much for taking the time to meet with us. I understand that you have a hand in all aspects of the military, but WWI exhibits seem to be the focus of your offerings. Tell us about your collecting routes and how it led to the First World War.

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Scott Karska: Well, John, I started collecting militaria at a young age. The Civil War was my first love, but my meager allowance and money from odd jobs couldn't help me build any kind of meaningful show. In my frustration I mentioned this to an old antiques dealer when I was only 17 and he showed me some WW1 items he had in the shop. I asked the prices. An American WWI helmet was $8, a WWI gas mask was $5 and a 37mm shell was $10. "Wow!" I thought it was something interesting and reasonable. These three parts started a journey of over 30 years of learning and mastery that continues to this day. I'm just as excited about new things today as I was when I was young.

Among WWI collectors, you are known as a specialist in American Volunteer Service relics. What attracted you to volunteers?

Scott Karska: I started out like most collectors. Try to get one of each item to complete Doughboy. Then move on to cavalry, signal corps, marines, aviation, tank corps, etc.

I found that I was most attracted to uniform groups, or more specifically to named and researchable ones. I have made a nice collection of 26th Division groups and Marine Corps material. Then one day I stopped at a thrift store and found a World War I US Field Service tunic with arm bands. It was in a tired state, but for $40, how could you not buy it? It was around 1993.

Jb Military Antiques (morley)

I heard about field service and a friend showed me a uniform. Of course, at that time my young mind could not appreciate anything from a unit whose members did not carry weapons!

I did some research and found that this ambulance driver was only on duty for a short time when he was seriously injured while transporting soldiers injured in the fire and was not expected to live. The French awarded him the highest decoration for enlisted men, the Medale Militaire.

I was hooked after that. At the time, almost no one knew anything about the US Field Service, and for about ten years I found amazing things with very little competition. Then people got smarter. Very competitive these days.

Military Trader: Now for the business side of WW1 collecting. WWI collecting in the US seems to have caught on in the last decade. How would you describe this aspect of the military hobby? Can you describe a "typical" American WWI collector?

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Scott's favorite find is the large torso of 26th Division Artillery Officer Joseph C. Davis, 103rd Field Artillery. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and the Croix de Guerre, but later died in July 1918.

In the 1980s and early 1990s, World War I was an unusual military field that everyone fell into but few really cared about. Most collectors wanted a war of independence through a civil war. The second major area was WWII Germany. WWII American materials are kept one step above surplus!

WW1 stuff was very cheap in the 1980s, but around 1990 things started to pick up. I'd say most stuff in the 1990s appreciated about 10% a year.

With the creation and rise of eBay from 1998-2004, things began to change as most mainstream products stabilized. Medium products grew by about 5% per year, but rare and exotic products began to soar.

File:wwi French Gasoline Lighter.jpg

All sellers and buyers used eBay to determine prices, and realized prices were off the list for a while. This continues to some extent to this day.

Scott Karska: Today's hot items are often what you'd expect. flight; Marine Corps; Batches of special brigades, especially famous units such as the 2nd, composed of African-Americans, Siberian and North Russian Expeditionary Forces; Grouping medals and documents with military awards and others; And all the German stuff from the First World War.

I might not immediately think of women's materials, WWI diaries and a good collection of letters, and WWI photo albums (if written). Obviously, the subjects of the American volunteer movement would include Americans who fought as volunteers before the United States entered the war in April 1917, such as the American Field Service, the Norton Harges Ambulance Service, the Lafayette Flying Corps, the French Foreign Legion, etc.

And now what do you consider to be slow or low interest items in WWI collecting in the US? Has it always been that way, or is it part of a change within the hobby?

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Scott Karska: Very cheap and very reasonably priced WW1 Veteran Medals, Uniforms and Parts. They also price hundreds of paper and photo items, so any wallet can buy them. The other elements are of course defective parts. Uniform with a few scattered butterflies, brimless helmet, etc. I would only recommend these if a collector's budget is inflexible.

Scott Karska: There is a huge interest in collectors in Europe. In general, there was always much more interest in the First World War, in Europe. This is due to the fact that most countries participated in the years 1914-1918 instead of the much shorter 1917-1918 period in which most of the Doughboys fought. The battlefields themselves are also in Europe, which greatly increases the number of collectors. The largest international consumers of World War I materials are France, England, Belgium, Canada and Germany.

There seems to be a lot of interest in World War I painted helmets that has grown over the past decade. What tips do you have for someone considering collecting American WWI helmets?

Scott Karska: Collecting World War I helmets falls into several different areas: clean, pristine helmets; those with combat insignia/camo used in the field; and "folk art" decorated with helmets. With all these, buy the best possible way. Color is the main factor.

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In the first category, the condition of the binding and chinstrap is almost as important, but in the case of cams and painted helmets, the condition of the face is, if anything, less important than the rarity of markings, the absence of a given terrain pattern, or the artistic quality of "folk art".

Two-part maintenance question: How do you recommend collectors store/display their collection? And what are your "Go to" references (print, online, other) that you would recommend for someone looking to collect US WWI materials?

Scott Karska: That's hard to answer in such a short paragraph! Collectors should read my article Military Trader: Protect Your Collection from Moths (available online at www.Baystatemilitaria.com. We also have a multi-part section on our Facebook page that recommends reference books with cover art for collectors.

1) Be suspicious of any wool material as it can harbor moths, eggs and larvae. It's like getting a virus on your computer: once it gets in, it causes huge problems. Freeze wool products for one hour

Issue July 2022

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