There is one axiom which must be always kept in view when purchasing odd military curios. It is not sufficient to know, in our own minds, that a certain article is genuine; we must know enough to be able to prove the fact to other collectors or else the "selling-price" value of the treasure will be little more than nothing. Of course, with such things as medals, autographs, weapons, etc., it is merely the work of an expert to say whether a certain specimen is genuine or not, but no amount of careful examination can ever decide the authenticity of a certain souvenir said to belong, perhaps, to Wellington, or the genuineness of a shot which was supposed to have caused the death of such and such a great soldier. Relics of this nature must be backed with good documentary evidence or their value can be but trifling. A case in point may be given by way of an example:-- A soldier recently showed the writer a pocket-knife, bearing the coat-of-arms of Cologne, which he picked up on the battlefield of Ypres. The soldier naturally valued the knife for its associations, but as a military curio its worth was no more than that of a second-hand, much used, pocket-knife since he could in no way prove how he found it. * * * * * For the sake of method, we have grouped the miscellaneous curios with which we shall deal under certain heads, the first of which is "Battlefield Souvenirs." These trophies of war are, of course, full of interest; the present conflict has given us a good many specimens such as Prussian helmets, German infantry caps, and shells of various calibre. They should all be highly prized as long as they are in good condition and their identity can be established. There are many interesting battlefield souvenirs to be seen in the Royal United Service Museum. One is the railway-station board from Tel-el-Kebir, which stood in the midst of the fighting on September 13, 1882, when the British, 17,000 strong, attacked and stormed Arabi's entrenchments defended by 22,000 Egyptians. Another is a leaden ball found on the spot where Major-General James Wolfe received his mortal wound on the Plains of Abraham at the taking of Quebec, 1759. A third souvenir is a grape shot found on an embankment on the Island of Capri, and believed to have been one of those used by the French in the siege of the island. Capri, it may be said, was held by the British under Sir Hudson Lowe from 1806 to 1808. In the latter year, King Murat of Naples sent a force of French troops, under General Lemarque, to besiege the island, and took it after thirteen days' siege. Yet another souvenir which may be described as from the battlefield is an officer's memorandum book. Captain F. W. Lyons, of the South Staffordshire Regiment, had this book in his breast-pocket whilst attacking the stockade on the Tumbiling River, in Penang, in 1904, when it was struck by a bullet with no worse result to Captain Lyons than a severe bruise on the chest.