Hi Jim,
Well thank you so much for the kind welcome! That is very nice of you. I have been lurking on the board for some timee but a lot of my current writing projects are back in my main love--19th Century American militaria.

I am embarrassed to say that I am the author of "Warman's Civil War Collectibles"...a "price guide" for CW relics (I use my "original equipment" name--"John F. Graf"--another long story!). I am not a big believer in price guides, but it was an opportunity to showcase a lot of neat artifacts that have gone through auctions in the last couple of years.

Outside of that, I have been researching the Mexican-American War for the past 20 years (gads, i am old!), concentrating on first-hand accounts of material culture references and on the Battle of Buena Vista . That keeps me busy between big projects!

Again, thank you so much for the kind welcome. I hope I am able to make meaninful and useful contributions to the list. I have been very impressed by the quality of postings on it.

With kindest regards from Wisconsin,
John A-G