Thanks guys, Dan is a great guy who had visited with Michael in his Anchorage gun room on a few occasions. He is a serious researcher, advanced collector and careful craftsman as well as a generous and thoughtful man; like Michael.
I'm looking for the appropriate place to keep this Niedner artifact. It will probably wind up in my Gerstner oak tool chest at the north end of my workbench. The chest was a graduation gift from my parents when I completed the gunsmithing program at Trinidad State with an engraved plaque my Dad installed acknowledging the date and event. Dan is also a grad of the Trinidad program, part of the reason he accomplished so much in my seminar.
We accumulate artifacts as we venture through life but it is the people, events and experiences that make the most memorable possessions. I particularly enjoy the chain of possession of the buttplate pattern reminding me of the people involved: Niedner, Shelhamer, a friend, MP, Dan and now myself, quite a journey, eh?
Just a few months ago I saw this imprint for the first time…underneath a Niedner buttplate on a custom Krag. I like to imagine I was the first to remove it since Shelhamer installed it… a pleasant fantasy.
