Back when I was in my 20s, I belonged to the North-South Skirmish Association. In the Spring and Fall, we would go to Winchester, Va., to participate in the "Nationals" (individual and team C.W. shooting matches).

In those days many of the participants were shooting original weapons, which could be found for reasonable money.

A great attraction at the matches was "Sutler's Row". A number of the Dealers were from New York and had a good assortment of original U.S. Springfield Armory parts and Militaria. A lot of this stuff had come out of Bannerman's.

The Cavalry Farrier's patch in my photo was one of many that came out of a 'woolen bale' a Dealer found at one of Bannerman's locations. The McKeever .45-70 cartridge box is believed to be from Bannerman's and the "N.Y." buckle is a likely Bannerman 'restrike'. Back in the 1960s and 1970s original stuff was around, relatively cheap, and there was little incentive to make FAKES.