Collecting Spy Memorabilia

I bet you’re idea of a spy is James Bond right? Well, the well known spy is just a fictional character invented by Ian Fleming. In the real world of espionage James Bond won’t last five minutes. His missions appeared to be assassination and seduction. The riveting action and tension are just exaggerated for the purposes of the films. The main task of a real world spy is to steal, gather and pass on information. Spies don’t murder spies. As what Oleg Tsarev a retired KGB officer said “ Intelligence stops when you pick up a gun.” In the real world of spies it’s more cloak than dagger.

Tradecraft is the term for the procedures, devices and techniques by which spies operate. I’m sure you have seen all the scenes of a typical spy movie when there are “brush passes”, “car tosses” and “ dead drops.” In reality those are the most crucial and dangerous times of a spy when he passes on classified information to his handler. The golden age of tradecraft was when there was a mass production of concealment devices. This occurred during the Cold War. These concealment devices are the most coveted collectible espionage artifacts today.

H. Keith Melton, a collector of the world’s largest espionage paraphernalia, specializing mostly on tradecraft, boasts owning “Sleeping Beauty” a one man submarine but look like a motorized kayak. This was designed to carry the wet suited spy into hostile territory either fully or partially submerged. Another one of his intriguing collection is a copper mesh bra once owned by Mata Hari a pre-war legendary dancer and seductress who unsuccessfully tried to spy for Germany and France.

Today with the advent of aerial intelligence, satellite photography, voice recognition software, and the power of high speed internet computers, the passing of information from a spy to his handler will only take milliseconds. As others predicted, the advance technology will render the human spy redundant.

The modern digital spy of today, does not hold that much intrigue . It’s less personal and far more removed. On the other hand the tradecraft devices which made use of human creativity and ingenuity but at the same time limited by human imperfections are more engaging and will forever peak a man’s curiosity.

So if you want to start a collection of spy memorabilia, tradecraft devices are the most collectible. You have to distinguish though where your interests are, between real espionage gadgets and gizmos or the fictional ones which James Bond, Austin Powers , and Maxwell Smart are famous for.

Article Source: http://www.content.onlypunjab.com

Jovita Orais is an avid collector. If you have a favorite thing, it is more than likely other people collect it too. To find out more collectible items visit www.hobby-collecting.blogspot.com

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