Edged Weapons, Armor & Militaria

Willi Zahn

Edged Weapons, Armor & Militaria Division

David Wyatt

Edged Weapons, Armor & Militaria Division

David Geiger

Edged Weapons, Armor & Militaria Division

James Kochan

Edged Weapons, Armor & Militaria Division

Prior to founding James L. Kochan Fine Art & Antiques in 1998, Kochan was director of museum collections at Mount Vernon. During his tenure there, he organized the blockbuster traveling exhibition “George Washington Revealed: Treasures from Mount Vernon.” He spent nearly two decades as a museum director and curator, principally with the U.S. Army Museum System and the National Park Service, which included seven years as supervisory curator at Morristown National Historical Park. Kochan received his bachelor’s degree in history from Miami University in 1980 and conducted graduate work in early American history and historical archaeology at the College of William and Mary. He has received numerous honors and awards for his curatorial and historical work, including the Anne S. K. Brown Military Fellowship at Brown University, the Award of Merit from the American Association for State and Local History, and a Museum Fellowship from the British Council. He is also the Founding President of the Mars & Neptune Trust and a Fellow and Life Member of the Company of Military Historians. James Kochan is the author or co-author of eight reference books on military material culture and history, including Soldiers of the American Revolution, Insignia of Independence: Military Buttons, Accoutrement Plates and Gorgets of the American Revolution, and The United States Army, 1783-1815 (2 vols.), as well as more than 100 published articles or research reports on various facets of early American life. He is considered a leading expert on American and British military and marine artwork and material culture from 1700-1850 and has been a consultant to numerous museums and historic sites. He is the founding president of The Mars & Neptune Trust, a nonprofit dedicated to research and preservation of artifacts of early America. Kochan has served as the expert consultant on several film and media projects, as well. He was the principal historical consultant and technical advisor for costume, props and set dressing on Peter Weir’s film adaptation of the Patrick O’Brien novels Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World and A&E Network’s The American Revolution; and participated as an expert appraiser on PBS Television’s Antiques Roadshow.

Brian Manifor

Edged Weapons, Armor & Militaria Division