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amputation tools

Amputation tools used in Revolutionary War sell for $100K

Tom Hoepf
Tom Hoepf
amputation tools
Dr. John Warren (right) and the amputation tools he used as a surgeon in the Continental Army. RR Auction images

 

BOSTON (AP) – A collection of amputation tools used in the Revolutionary War has fetched more than $100,000 at auction.

The amputation kits were owned by Dr. John Warren, a Continental Army surgeon and a founder of Harvard Medical School. Boston-based RR Auction didn’t identify the buyer Thursday.

Auction house officials say the tools show signs of heavy use and come from a time before doctors understood the importance of sterilization.

The tools include saws, a curved amputation knife, surgical scissors, forceps and a tourniquet. They were previously sold by Harvard University in a warehouse auction.

Warren practiced medicine in Massachusetts before becoming a surgeon for the Continental Army.

He treated the wounded at the battles of Long Island, Trenton and Princeton, and he later became Harvard’s first professor of anatomy and surgery.
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AP-WF-07-13-17 1812GMT