As a history buff, it is a great pleasure for me to be able to collect antiques and relics from times gone by. I love medieval antiques, but generally they are out of my range. I also love World War II relics and owns several of them. My favorite period of history to collect from, however, is the American Civil War. Civil War antiques are the pride of my collection.

When most people think of civil war antiques, they picture Union and Confederate uniforms.  Perhaps there's not a more iconic costume in all of history than that worn by Union soldiers during the American Civil War. Fighting for freedom and national unity, these soldiers really stood for what America has strived to become. Although their outfits were coarse and quaint by modern standards, they still have a certain power in the eyes of all those who hold them.

Then again, whenever I meet younger folks they always want to see my antique weapons of the Civil War. These Civil War antiques are interesting from a technological standpoint because they show the beginning of modern weaponry. Antique Civil War weapons from the beginning of the conflict are pretty primitive. They are usually single shot, powder and ball affairs that are innacurrate and dangerously time-consuming to load. Civil war antiques from later in the period, however, show a remarkable transformation. The guns go from muzzle loading single shot rifles to sophisticated repeater action revolvers and even early machine guns. Even today, guns much like those used towards the end of the conflict are still a part of any modern army.

With harder to find items, I have to content myself to collect civil war reproductions. Nevertheless, some of these reproductions are remarkably good. People have been making imitation Civil War weapons for a long time, and the technology has been almost perfect. Some of the better Civil War antique reproduction companies even use the same methods as were used to make the original weapons. Only an expert, in fact, can tell them apart from the originals. Honestly, I am much more interested in the look of the weapons and uniforms than in the fact that they are actually historical artifacts. Although I prefer civil war antiques to reproductions, it is nice to be able to save money by buying a replica. It is all a matter of having an eye for historical authenticity so that you can pick the best replicas.