Old Gun Stuff

So the process continues of going through the things my sister has been sending me. She takes all the stuff from my Dad’s house she has no interest in and sends it to me. This is fine, because one of the things my sister has no interest in is old books. Yes, I know, I find it hard to believe she’s related to me, too.

When I say old books here I don’t mean books from 20 years ago, either. I have books published in 1893 and earlier in amongst all of the stuff she’s sending me. Some, obviously, are in better shape than others. What I’ve been doing with most of them is transferring it from the beat up cardboard it was shipped in and putting it in plastic bins and placing it in our climate-controlled storage area. Most of my books are already up there as part of the process to get YPS Manor ready for sale.

A select few items get to stay here in the house, though. One of the keepers is a catalog my great-uncle Clay Herbert kept, which was passed to me through the usual circuituous route things take. Uncle Clay died when I was very young. I remember him as the slightly scary old man who lived in my grandparents’ basement. He was always very nice, but also always frightened me a little. He was my grandmother’s uncle, and I now have a lot of his things. I confess some degree of puzzlement as to why, but that’s neither here nor there.

Anyhow, the catalog is from Colt’s Patent Fire Arms Mfg. Co. in Hartford, Conn. USA. The actual catalog itself is undated, but included with it is a price sheet which was revised on March 8, 1917. Apparently, a Govt. Model .45 was going for $22.00 even. Ivory grips would set you back another $5. Engraving would be done for several prices, but the top of the line was $12.50. $39.50 in 1917 would get you a state of the art firearm complete with bling. For the perusal and amusement of the other gun geeks out there, the Flickr set of my scans of the catalog is here.

I also have the 1957 NRA Smallbore Competition rules, but those don’t strike me as being nearly as interesting as the Colt catalog. I may scan those as well, but it’s pretty dry reading. Anyhow, hopefully someone will get some use and enjoyment out of the pics. That way, when I start blegging for answers about WTF these revolvers I have are, somebody will be inclined to help me out.