Oct 02, 2012 - Sale 2287

Sale 2287 - Lot 468

Price Realized: $ 6,000
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 1,500
(VIETNAM WAR.) Archive of army photographer Stuart Kovacs. Approximately 335 photographs, various sizes, some mounted or in scrapbooks, most from Kovacs' service in Vietnam, with 70 sheets of contact prints, clippings of his published photographs, his uniform jacket and dog tag, and other artifacts; condition generally strong. Vp, circa 1967-69
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Additional Details

Stuart F. Kovacs (born 1947) served in the Army's 9th Signal Battalion during the Vietnam War, reaching the rank of Specialist 5. His photographs appeared frequently in The Old Reliable, the newspaper of the 9th Infantry Division. Kovacs took many of his photographs from riverboats patrolling on the Mekong. He frequently photographed Vietnamese soldiers and civilians in addition to American soldiers. Photographs of USO shows featuring Bob Hope and Raquel Welch add variety. While most of the photographs are uncaptioned official prints, among the most compelling are a scrapbook of more personal photos captioned crudely in ballpoint pen with notes like "Kicking ass & killing Cong," "Rice Paddey Daddy," "Vietnamese orfan," and "Seek and destroy mission." Few of the images are graphic, with the exception of one depicting a row of Vietnamese corpses captioned "We came . . . we saw . . . we kicked ass!!" One group portrait (illustrated) is titled simply "The Boys," and shows Kovacs with four friends, each noted as dead or missing in action. More detailed inventory available upon request.