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TRIPLE-BORDER CAPTAIN OF STAFF SHOULDER STRAPS

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These shoulder straps for a Captain serving on staff duty fall into the “extra rich” category of offerings by some military goods dealers of the period. The borders and rank bars are edged with conventional jaceron wire, but are wider, the borders using an impressive three rows of embroidered bullion, the center one of which is a tad wider, all three using alternating bands of dead and bullion strands, with the angles of the strands in the rows opposed, creating a chevron effect that is mirrored in the bars of the rank insignia, that use two rows, but with similarly opposed angles to their strands. Civil War officers had to purchase their own uniforms and equipment. The officer who wore these certainly wanted to show off a bit, and had the money to do so.

The condition is very good, with the black velvet centers showing deep black color, no oxidation toward brown, and no noticeable holes. The jaceron wire is in place, showing just a slight bend or stretched coil in a couple of places, but overall tight. The embroidered bullion shows some gilt in recesses, but has largely shifted to a uniform, muted silver, with a few strands shifted, exposing the underlying cording of the raised borders, which could likely be corrected. The edges of the cloth base were trimmed by a collector to neaten them up, eliminating the overlap on the reverse, but entirely preserving the jaceron wire edge. As is correct, these likely would have  had an open back in any case and they show off very well as laid out.

Captains of staff could perform various duties for different departments and in different posts- some administrative and some requiring a good deal of courage - serving on the staffs of brigadier generals and higher officers in the field, for example, where they might carry essential orders under fire to units on the front lines without the satisfaction of being able to fire back. This set would look good in an officer’s display, accompanying a staff or field-and-staff sword, or a collection of regulation Civil War embroidered insignia, a collecting category of its own that combines eye appeal and history.   [sr][ph:m/L]

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