Hilman Walker Collection of World War I & II Posters

The USS Mahan (DLG-11) spent over 30 years in various deployments during the Vietnam War and other conflicts. A Farragut-class guided missile destroyer, the Mahan was named in honor of Rear Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan, a renowned naval officer, author, and historian. The ship was scrapped in 2004 but was first the subject of a professional miniature model. This piece, which leads the upcoming Hilman Walker Collection of World War I & II Posters sale, was made by a professional artisan based out of State College, Pennsylvania. It measures 64 inches long, a fraction of the ship’s actual length of 512.5 feet. 

The auction, offered by Turner Auctions + Appraisals LLC, will include selections of ship memorabilia alongside the miniatures. Sets of Lamberton china, Manhattan-pattern flatware, and dinner napkins from various ocean liners are particularly featured. Vintage war posters form the majority of the auction’s catalog, however, sourced from the collection of a San Francisco Bay Area lawyer. A Vietnam-era roadside billboard is one of the largest lots coming to auction, measuring 21 by almost 9 feet. It shows an American soldier gazing earnestly at the viewer with parachutes dotting the sky behind him. 

Many of the available World War I posters appeal to the conscience of America, including a relief campaign piece showing a young woman with her palms outstretched. Both British and American posters also called to citizens’ sense of patriotism and duty: “Be honest with yourself,” reads a quote on a 1915 British poster, “Be certain that your so-called reason is not a selfish excuse.” View each of these lots and register for online bidding on Bidsquare.