Painting of a Polish Trooper 1920 - Szwadron pionierów
Back in 2004 when my father died me and my brother decided we should take our mom for a holiday to Poland, my mom who is a antique collector and got me into collecting militaria would often hit the town in search of things to buy, one day I recieved a phone call that she was in a antique store in the town square of Wroclaw and she found some Polish medals and badges which I might find worth buying. Now I know when my mom says it is worth buying, IT IS! My mom knows what is original and what is a fake, and she is a expert bargain hunter 
I arrived in the store and ended up buying a nice Wz.19 eagle, a few Polish medals for the 1919-21 War, a mint 1939 Radom Bayonet, plenty of photos and paperwork. I remember the total was close to 900zl and I was happy with price but thanks to mom I payed 730
As we are about to leave, in a dark corner of the store my mom notices a old, really dirty painting. My mom loves paintings, she looks at it, calls me over and asks me to identity the soldier, now this painting was so dirty I could barely make it out, but yup, I know it is a cavalry trooper, I know for sure he is wearing a uniform that was worn in the 1920 campaign. I was worried about the dirt and condition however my mom assured me she knows a expert in a local museum who can restore it, she was so confident she buys it for me for silly money, 1000zl.
Two weeks later she gave me this stunning painting, I could not believe this was the same painting she bought.
The trooper is wearing a typical 1920 War cavalry peaked cap, pioneer squadron insignia, a really nice jacket worn over the shoulder ‘hussar style’ which was common with the Polish cavalry in the those days.
Here is the painting, I am hoping to have it framed some time this year and create a display at home focusing on the 1919-21 war with this painting as the centrepiece, it looks much better in real life and I cannot seem to take a good shot from my camera…
