One
of the more unusual lots in our upcoming Official Auction of the Whitman Coin
& Collectibles Baltimore Expo in March is lot 115, a rarely seen escape and
evasion kit used in the South East Asia region around the time of the Vietnam
War. These were known to have been stowed away on U.S. Navy aircraft, and in
the event of an emergency a downed airman who found himself behind enemy lines
might be able to use the enclosed items to barter for his life. During World
War II similar kits were used that contained gold coins and rings, and we have
offered those sets several times in the past. The kit up for auction here contains
no coins, but includes a Milus Snow Star watch, and several gold-alloy jewelry
items. It also appears to be quite a bit scarcer than the kits used during
World War II. Interestingly, the Milus company was not aware that their watches
were used by the Defense Department in this manner until 2010. In 2011 they
released a special commemorative edition of their classic watch to celebrate its
history.
Our
kit includes a pristine 21-jewel Milus Snow Star watch, never worn and
operating perfectly, with a separate rolled-up cloth band, two gold rings, one
with a Chinese character and the other with entwined circles inscribed H and R.
There is also a looped, heart-shaped gold pendant with a floral design. An
empty rectangular compartment in the case once housed a now-missing small
length of gold chain. The gold is of low purity, but is marked “100%”, the
standard in the Vietnam region at the time. The rings weigh 7.5 and 7.7 grams,
the pendant 3.8 grams. The black hard rubber case is undamaged, but has rubber cement residue around
the edges and between each compartment. It is numbered with an incuse 540 on
one of the exterior faces.
The
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Collection has a kit for comparison
here: http://collections.si.edu/search/results.htm?view&dsort&date.slider&q=Escape%20and%20Evasion%20Kit
This
lot will be just one of the exciting items in our upcoming March 2017 Baltimore
Spring Expo auction, where rare coins will abound, and little treasures like
this will draw the attention of numerous collectors. Don’t miss it!
