UBB.threads Forums General Militaria United States Militaria Charlie Beckwith

I’m looking for some marketing suggestions and values for a really neat US group I personally turned 'out of the woods' many years ago. What’s the best way to market? What’s a fair value for the grouping?

The group consists of items that once belonged to one of the few genuine American heroes of the last 1/2 of the 20th Century; Colonel Charles A. “Charging Charlie” Beckwith.

After his separation from service following the abortive ‘Desert Disaster’ at 'Eagle 1' attempting rescue of the 200+ hostages held by the Iranian Government Col. Beckwith later retired to my hometown of Austin, Texas and the items were purchased from his widow/estate after his death. He was the founding father of DELTA FORCE and is a central figure in and is mentioned in any references on American Elite forces. He is often/usually depicted in books of Elite and Special Forces wearing a British Paratrooper smock and the actual smock pictured in those photos was in the items purchased from his estate.

1.Col. Beckwith's personal cammo smock. It is of British manufacture and is so marked. His name is inked into the jacket. A picture of him wearing this EXACT jacket exists in a recent publication on US army Special Forces. You can tell it's the same jacket as the cammo pattern in book pictures match perfectly with the actual item.
2.Also of British manufacture is a battle jacket dated November 1961. "C. Beckwith" is inked into the jacket. It appears unissued.
3.A British commando sweater that also appears unissued, it is marked "Beck”.
4.Three pair of trousers, US manufacture; size 40x33 all three pair are brand new. All marked "Beckwith".
5.Cammo cap with fold down ear flaps. Marked "Beckwith".
6.Jungle cap, unissued, no name markings. Possibly for one of his grandchildren as it is of a small size and Col. Beckwith was a large person.
7.Pistol holster, web style, only markings are "C Beckwith"
8.Pistol holster, marked "Bianchi", SHADOW, #8L, .38/.357 Colt and "C Beckwith".
9.Pistol holster, marked "Bianchi", MODEL #4", H K P7 marked "B".
10.Clip pouch, marked "Bianchi”, 20-C, 45 AUTO, SW59, BRNG 9M/M
11.Pistol pouch, American manufacture,only marking is "Beckwith".
12.Compass, US manufacture, marked: US 11-59 Waltham Prec. Inst., Co. Pouch is unmarked. "Beckwith CA" is scratched into the body of the compass.
13.Two waterproof clothes bags marked "C Beckwith".
14.A military storage case of some sort. Marked "C A Beckwith Major SERIAL ####"
15.Military B-4 suitcase marked with Beckwith's name on oilskin name tag.
16. Book, THE UNDERGROUND {U},ST 31-202, marked "Beckwith".
17. Three booklets detailing a symposium held at Hampden-Sydney College in 1993. Col. Beckwith was a panelist at this meeting.
His biography is listed on pages 11 and 12.
18. Several documents of provenance exist including a copy of
the newspaper article detailing advertising the estate sale, a copy of the criss-cross phone book detailing that Col. Beckwith lived at the address of the estate sale. A canceled check written to his widow as partial payment for the items. The ‘topper’ is the Colonel’s own personal copy of the Larry McMurtry Novel “Lonesome Dove” with a printed return address sticker to the Colonel inside the cover.

Ah Charlie Beckwith, quite a notable warrior as you say.
Read a couple books about him including his own. Though Operation "Eagle Claw", the failed rescue attempt in Iran was of course unfortunately his most notable exploit, he goes way back to the early days of Vietnam where he crossed paths with a young "Stormin Norman" Schwarzkopf in the jungles.

Fascinating group, my 1st thoughts are too bad it could not be kept in the family, I presume if they let it go in the first place the interest must not be there.
I'm guessing the actual items are not worth a whole lot but the name association would boost its value to the right collector ,,, And that would be quite a niche collector but they are out there.
One option might be to post on a special forces forum and see if there is any interest there, as you may be aware, those guys tend to be pretty touchy with new/unknown posters, so would be best to post an introductory thread along with an outline of your purpose.

Another would be good old ebay, with the right key words in the title would certainly get the proper exposure. Just put a reserve on the auction at least whatever you paid, if you don;t get that it might be safe to assume that you paid too much ,,, But then again, you might list the same thing 2 weeks later and get double that, all depends on who clicks.

Sort of only tangentially related, but I though this was really kind of interesting. We have no idea what we owe to these brave men, as many of their deeds go unpublicized.

http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/International_security_affairs/iranian_hostage_crisis/522.pdf