When you name your annual military collectibles event “The Show of Shows,” or SOS, you are setting the bar rather high. Yet for 25 years, the Ohio Valley Military Society (OVMS) has ensured that the show has lived up to its name. Held every year at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville, the OVMS Show of Shows has become the largest military collectibles and small arms show under one roof anywhere in the world.
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For its 25th anniversary event in 2017, the OVMS delivered once again. The SOS featured nearly 2,000 tables with some 750 dealers offering items rarely seen even in some of the world’s best museums.
The OVMS, one of the oldest militaria collecting clubs in the United States, has more than 2,000 active members from 49 states and 25 countries. It may have been originally founded in the Ohio Valley, but it is an international organization that draws in dealers from across Europe and Asia, and collectors from around the world.
In the gallery above, check out 10 of the best small arms that were offered for sale at the 25th annual OVMS Show of Shows.
For more information about the OVMS Show of Shows, visit sosovms.com.
This article was originally published in “Tactical Weapons” November/December 2017. To order a copy and subscribe, visit outdoorgroupstore.com.
