Fall 2026 Militaria and Aviation Auction
Lot 300:
Description
The Great Raid: Prop Watch & Cut-Off Costume Shirt. Production-Used Costume Shirt and Prop US Army-Style Field Watch from The Great Raid (Miramax, 2005), with Premiere Props Certificate of Authenticity GRD2229 for the "Core Rangers US Army Watch." Offered together is a matched pair of production props from The Great Raid, John Dahl’s 2005 World War II drama recounting the January 1945 raid on the Cabanatuan POW camp in the Philippines. The lot comprises a heavily distressed, sleeveless khaki poplin field shirt prepared for wardrobe use, together with a prop military-style field watch on a fabric strap, accompanied by its original embossed Premiere Props Certificate of Authenticity, inventory number GRD2229, identifying it as a "Core Rangers US Army Watch." The two pieces were acquired together from the production, though the certificate specifically names only the watch and does not separately document the shirt. The Great Raid dramatized the ordeal of the roughly 500 American and Allied prisoners held at Cabanatuan, many survivors of the Bataan Death March, and the daring nighttime rescue mounted by the 6th Ranger Battalion with Alamo Scouts and Filipino guerrilla support. Wardrobe departments on productions of this scale routinely aged and cut down stock military-surplus garments to convey years of captivity and jungle campaigning, while props departments fitted period-style wristwatches to Rangers and support characters to complete the illusion of 1945 field equipment. This shirt and watch were prepared as exactly that kind of atmosphere-building set dressing for the film’s Philippine setting. The shirt is a khaki poplin pullover field-style garment with a banded standing collar, twin pleated patch chest pockets, and a placket fastened with pressed-metal French military surplus buttons stamped "EQUIPEMENTS MILITAIRES." Both sleeves have been roughly cut away at the shoulder seam for a sleeveless jungle-wear look, and the fabric shows heavy mottled staining and soiling applied to simulate sweat, grime, and wartime deprivation. The prop watch has a black dial with luminous-style Arabic hour numerals and an inner 13-24 military time scale, a stainless-steel case showing genuine scuffing and surface wear, and a brown woven fabric strap; the movement’s functionality is unverified and the piece should be regarded strictly as a prop. Accompanying the lot is the original Premiere Props Certificate of Authenticity for the watch, embossed and stamped, bearing the film title, inventory number GRD2229, and an authorized signature. The shirt’s staining, cut sleeves, and heavy creasing are consistent with intentional studio distressing rather than genuine age or field service; the watch case shows honest handling wear from studio use. The photographs do not establish a specific actor, scene, or on-screen appearance for either piece. A tangible, documented pairing of screen props from a modern war film built around one of the twentieth century’s most storied POW rescues, offered together as acquired.
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