Collectibility question: "War trophy" paperwork without the trophy?

[Martinjmpr]

Organizing and digging through my old paper files this week - long overdue (I tend to be something of a "paperwork pack rat" - probably a reflex I learned in the Army.)

Anyway, I came across the "war trophy" paperwork for an SKS I bought at Foothills Shooting Center (remember them?) in the early 1980's. The SKS was a Vietnam bring-back. I ended up trading it a couple years later (without ever having fired it) because at that time 7.62 x 39 ammo was almost impossible to find and hideously expensive when you could (if only i'd have known that 10 years later SKS's would sell for the price of a cheap television set and ammo would be damn near as cheap as .22lr. Oh well, hindsight's 20/20, eh?)

The War Trophy paperwork is from the Marine who brought it back in 1969. If I could find who has that SKS they'd probably value the paperwork but I'd have no idea of how to do that.

Just wondering if anybody here thinks "war trophy" paperwork is worth anything absent the trophy before I put it in the recycle bin.

[Grant H.]

It wouldn't be of any interest to me, but I lack sentimentality.

I imagine it being useful with the gun, at some level, but beyond that, it's an SKS.

[Aloha_Shooter]

I'd send the paperwork to the Smithsonian or maybe NRA Firearms Museum as an example of paperwork that was issued historically. Be nice to remind a lot of the liberal historians that such things were once done.

[Irving]

I had the same questions about the registration papers for all the 20's-40's Indian Motorcycles my grandpa owned. In the end I tossed them.

[def90]

Yeah, would be nice if you owned that rifle to have something like that, would definitely add some $$ to the value.. but I don?t know how you would ever find the current owner. For all you know it’s been traded for a weekends worth of meth on several occasions.

I like the idea of giving the paperwork to some organization that could use it in an educational manner.

[Irving]

The paper work lists a specific model with a serial number right?

[thedave1164]

ammoman.com might appreciate it LOL

[Martinjmpr]

The paper work lists a specific model with a serial number right?

Yes, the description, caliber, SN and where the Marine was stationed.

I'm on a "militaria" forum and posted it there - honestly if there's a collector of that type of militaria I'd happily mail it to them just to know it is going to someone with an interest in it.

[bczandm]

It sounds like you have a dd603, they were usually supplied in duplicate. The real value to the document would be to have it with the sks, it could add $200-$400 or more to the value of the SKS depending on the condition of SKS, the time period it was issued and many other variables. I'd guess the DD603 is worth a few dollars on it's own but not much as they are pretty common. I'd buy it from you for a few bucks as a display item...frame it and put it on the wall type of thing. It would look cool in my man cave. I tend to like vintage military gear.

I have a Vietnam SKS bringback in my collection with the form DD603 and a letter from the guy who brought it back. In the letter he identifies his duties, the base he was at and how he came by the SKS. The additional info adds value, but not much. Mine is unique as he also brought back a type 53 (a chinese mosin) rifle at the same time and I have that rifle. The coolest thing for me is that I was able to buy it from the guy who brought it back, met him at his house and got quite a story on his history. He actually ended up Iran after the war when we sold them F16's and then had to leave in a hurry when the political situation fell apart there :) He told the story at the gun store when we did the transfer and had a small crowd standing around by the time he was done.

In any event it's a cool document, if that's what you have.

bob