305th Field Artillery in France, 1919

[gabatgh]

If you don't already know me, my father-in-law was an antiques collector. When he passed away it became his daughter, my wife and my responsibility to deal with (sell) his massive and varied collections.

We have an Honorable Discharge certificate from 1919 for a private first class that was in France in the 305th Field Artillery, and the document is signed by Colonel Doyle.

Not knowing military history, I did some searching, and it seems that this regiment was particularly interesting in that there's even a book dedicated to them. Is this fairly typical, or is this something particularly unique and more valuable because it's from a member of the 305th? 

Thanks!

[Michael Johnson]

Gabatgh,

You will find that these things are all over the shop.

Obviously you will get the best price from a family member, if there is one, who is actively searching. If not, providing as much detail as possible will generate interest.

It is always worthwhile to go an Ancestry.com and find out who has a family tree up for your particular man. Do not be put off by anyone who wants it back for free.  Many items leave families for many reasons, and the cry of "It was stolen!"  can be met with "When?  Did you file a police report at the time?"  Ignore police reports filed after the events - they are worthless.  There is a concept in law of "purchaser in good faith without notice".

Michael

[gabatgh]

Micheal, thanks for that perspective but that is of no concern of ours. We've already had and sold dozens of items with names where we've tried contacting the descendents of the recipient. Most don't even respond to us. We would absolutely rather sell something at a discounted price to a descendent of the item than to sell it at full price to a stranger (of the item). We call that "sending it home".

Our interest with this document though is in the unit itself, the 305th Field Artillery, and whether or not there was something particularly (historically) special about them.