The Jacques M Littlefield Collection is thought to be the most significant private trove of military vehicles in the world, comprising a veritable what’s what of Cold War-era tactical hardware. Auctions America, a division of Ontario-based RM Auctions, will liquidate much of the collection’s contents, at no reserve price.

Littlefield, a former computer engineer who died in 2009 and who amassed nearly 200 military vehicles over 25 years, housed his collection within various structures in the Silicon Valley enclave of Portola Valley. In November 2013, it was announced that the collection would be consolidated with that of the Collings Foundation, a non-profit group with facilities in Stow, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. Proceeds from the July auction will finance the relocation and housing of roughly 80 of Littlefield’s most historically significant vehicles.

That’s not to say the sale will lack firepower. Among the auction’s highlights is a camouflage-correct, West German Leopard 1A1A1 Main Battle Tank, with a pre-auction estimate ranging from $400,000 to $450,000. A comparatively petite M37 105mm Howitzer Motor Carriage swells its chest with a pre-auction estimate of $200,000 - $250,000. And if you’re in the market for mid-century Soviet missile launchers, well...

Further details about the auction’s individual lots can be found at the Auctions America website.

(All photography courtesy Auctions America)