Keeping a gun in the family is important ya - but which one eh?
I wouldn't think your uncle too happy if you sold 'em all just to winter in the south of France!
How true!.....I have several picked out....and they are not the more expensive firearms, but the ones that I can remember him holding and telling the stories about....there is a flintlock double rifle by Ezekiel Baker that states on the barrells "Gunmaker to His Majesty" (in gold leaf) that he loved to hold and clean...all the time wondering where it had been and who may have held it prior.....
I have a similar memory regarding the double shotgun that was always referred to as "The DuPont" gun....actually the "E" grade Fox by The Philadelphia Gun Co. (I think)....known as such to us because of the gold signed trigger guard ~ "P.F. DuPont".....and then I would be reminded that he was one of THE DuPonts and that
"the DuPont family just might want this gun back someday"..........I know that there were other stories, but I was too young and too busy with other things to make the time to listen....and then he had a stroke in 1993 and then his interest in the guns was gone....learning to walk and speak again became much more important...of course!!
There is a single barrel Dickson shotgun that is very light, about 6 lbs. I think, that has the Crest of The Chisolm Clan (not sure who they were but I have always imagined them to be a Scottish family of some means) that I have always liked.....and then the double barrel flintlock shotgun (cased) by William Smith has also been one of my favs to admire and hold....and you have to remember that I am not a hunter or a shooter, so my affinity for any of them comes from a different place than those folks (I would think)....
As an art collector (another of my Uncle's passions), it seems that the workmanship on most of these firearms lends itself to that category....and then they ALL become "keepers" in my eye....
But to address the other part of your original comment....I truly think that Unk would want me to get these wonderful examples of art, history and the best gun making skills, into true collectors and shooters hands....to be admired, enjoyed and shot as they were intended....rather than have them to continue to languish here in the safe....
Thanks for all of the comments and suggestions!