American Civil War Medicine & Surgical Antiques

Surgical Set collection from 1860 to 1865 - Civilian and Military

Civil War:  Medicine, Surgeon Education & Medical Textbooks

 Dr. Michael Echols  &  Dr. Doug Arbittier

 

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Medical College Index - Lecture Cards  |  Civil War Medical Book Author-Title Index

 

 

Advice for new medical collectors

by Dr. Michael Echols

As you might guess a lot of new medical collectors find this web site and ask for advice on what to collect and how they can start their collection.  My best advice is always to buy Edmondson's book on medical instruments and go from there if you are interested in Civil War or other 1800's surgical antiques.  If you want to collect in other areas, please go to a topical site and ask questions there.  

If you are looking for a place to start buying, I would strongly advise you to take an organized approach to tracking items of interest on www.ebay.com in the 'medical'  or 'Civil War' section.  You have to dig a little, but pick items of interest, save them as 'favorites' and see how the bidding goes until the end.   Do it for a multitude of items and learn how much others are paying for given items.

Don't even think of bidding on eBay until you are sure you know what you are doing.   Check on www.AuctionSniper.com once you get to the point where you want to bid.  That is what the pros do and you should too.  Try tracking other bidders and see what they are finding.  You just save the bidder's eBay namecode under 'bidder' and see what they are buying.

Like any hobby, this one requires lots of study and time.  Take your time and read everything on this web site because there in no need for you to re-invent the wheel when I've already done a lot of the work for you.

Knowledge is your best advisor:  buy books!

  By Michael Echols

How I started collecting

Who collects medical antiques

Advice for new medical collectors

So you want to buy a Civil War surgical set!

Mental Games and collecting: how to make a decision to buy

Dating surgical items: how to determine when it was made

Pricing surgical or amputation sets: generalized information

Condition of instruments and sets

eBay and medical collecting

Getting started collecting medical antiques

Surgical instrument Identification and usage: photos of various instruments

Trepanning instruments in cases, identification of instruments

Finishes on instruments and handles: how they are used to date instruments

Altered surgical instruments: how it harms values

Civil War instrument makers: a list of contract makers

Surgical set locks and latches: a comparison for dating sets

Comparative photos of an 1850 and a later 1860's Gemrig surgical set

Civil War Surgical Manuals and collector books

For a extended list like the one above, see the Topic Indexes

 

Medical Antiques Index

American Civil War Medicine & Surgical Antiques Index

 

Topical Index for American Civil War Surgical Antiques 


 

Contact Dr. Arbittier with questions or if you have Civil War medical related items for sale

 

 

Civil War Medical Collections    Sitemap for entire website 

 

Direct links to all medical & Civil War collections on this site           

American Surgical Sets:

Pre-Civil War:  1 | 2  -   Post-Civil War:  3  -  Civil War 1861-1865:  4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8   INDEX

Medical Text-Books:

1 | 1a | 2 | 2a | 3 | 3a | 4 | 4a | 5 | 5a | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 9a | 10 | 11 | 12    INDEX

Surgeon General's Office Library printed catalogues: 1840 | 1864 | 1865
Medical Lecture Cards: 1a | 1b 2 | 34 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21    INDEX

Medical Faculty and Authors:

INDEX

Navy Surgeon Exams:

1863 Navy Surgeon Applicant Exams with Biographies   INDEX ONE | INDEX TWO

Surgeon CDVs, Images

Surgeon's Medical Service Swords, and Pistols

Army: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8    INDEX    

M.S. Surgeon Swords and Pistols:  1 | 2 | 3 | 4  INDEX

Navy: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8   

Hosp Dep't Bottles, Tins, 

U.S. Army Pannier:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

American Civil War Medicine & Surgical Antiques

Please request permission before commercial use or publication of any content or photos on this site and credit any use with:  "American Civil War Surgical Antiques"   All content and all original photography on this Web Site is copyrighted since 1995 and may not be used on any other web site or in commercial print without the expressed e-mail permission from Dr. Arbittier:  Contact   All rights reserved. 

 

Students doing reports or projects are welcome to use the content of this site without permission, but credits would be appreciated.

 

Please note: information on this site may not be normally referenced as this is an active and long-term educational research project.  Personal notes may not be properly cited for publication.  Various articles are digitally reproduced under the 'fair-use act' of the copyright laws and are intended for educational purposes only.  Many citations are from Google digital 'books' and can be traced backwards via a search of a unique string in the citation.

 

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Last update: Tuesday, February 01, 2022