Original Items. Only One Set Available. The main Iraqi thrust into Kuwait City was conducted by commandos deployed by helicopters and boats to attack the city from the sea, while other divisions seized the airports and two airbases. The Iraqis attacked the Dasman Palace, the Royal Residence of Kuwait's Emir, Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, which was defended by the Emiri Guard supported with M-84 tanks. In the process, the Iraqis killed Fahad Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the Emir's youngest brother.

Within 12 hours, most resistance had ended within Kuwait, and the royal family had fled, allowing Iraq to control most of Kuwait. After two days of intense combat, most of the Kuwaiti military were either overrun by the Iraqi Republican Guard, or had escaped to Saudi Arabia. The Emir and key ministers fled south along the highway for refuge in Saudi Arabia. Iraqi ground forces consolidated their control of Kuwait City, then headed south and redeployed along the Saudi border. After the decisive Iraqi victory, Saddam initially installed a puppet regime known as the "Provisional Government of Free Kuwait" before installing his cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid as Kuwait's governor on 8 August.

After the invasion, the Iraqi military looted over $1 billion in banknotes from Kuwait's Central Bank. At the same time, Saddam Hussein made the Kuwaiti dinar equal to the Iraqi dinar, thereby lowering the Kuwaiti currency to one-twelfth of its original value. In response, Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah ruled the banknotes as invalid and refused to reimburse stolen notes, which became worthless because of a UN embargo. After the conflict ended, many of the stolen banknotes made their way back into circulation. The stolen banknotes are a collectible for numismatists.

This is a very scarce set of silverware including a fork and knife taken from the Palace of Emir of Kuwait (Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah) brought home by a U.S. Service Member as a souvenir during Operation Desert Storm in 1991. The solid gold emblems of Arms of His Highness the Emir of Kuwait inlaid in the handles were looted by Iraqis before being recovered by U.S. forces.

Both the spoon and fork are marked to the reverse with the logo of BĒARD, one of the world’s leading Swiss brand names in flatware and hollowware, founded in 1888 by Noel BĒARD, a distributor of china and glassware to hotels in Switzerland.

The spoon measures 5 ⅛” long and the fork measures 6 ⅜” long.

This is an outstanding silverware set, ready to display with your Desert Storm / Gulf War collection!