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Bannerman, the Father of Gun Collecting: Tales from the Golden Age of Surplus (Ad-free)

🕑 Added 2026-02-11 12:00:04 +0000 UTC

Comments

Guido Schriewer

I am kind of jealous about the mans childhood! heck I'd have liked to see that NYC store.

John Spangler

As a high school kid around 1958-59 I got busted in Algebra class peeking at a Bannerman catalog instead of paying attention. I still love surplus stuff and don't do well at math. As a misguided youth, I hung around with a surplus gun/militaria dealer who had ticked off Jim Hogan, who was owner or Bannermans at the time, and he wanted to get some of their Span Am War canteens, so I became a straw purchaser. Retail was $1.00 each, but wholesale was 85 cents for 50 or more. The shady dealer wanted 50, so I saved up a few bucks from cutting lawns and orders 100 of them, and kept the best for myself and he got the rest. All but one or two have been sold off in the following decades, but it was my start into dealing collectibles to subsidize my own addiction to them.

Drew Holmes

Great video! Very interesting history and what people did to make a buck.

Sonny Hughes

Great video! I remember hearing about Bannerman in when I was a kid. Probably from some magazine article. About 20 years ago I found an essay in the back of a Dixie Gun Works catalog about a trip Turner Kirkland took to the castle when it was being cleaned out. It was a very interesting first hand Account of what was there at the time. Last fall I ran across an old copy of that DGW catalog at a used book store and bought it just for that essay!