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My love affair with LC Smith started when a lady I know asked me to help her sell some guns after her husband passed away. He had quite a pistol collection. I spent many hours pricing and placing her guns up for auction. At the end of it she told me she had a couple of old shotguns that she wanted to give me for helping. I tried to refuse, but she insisted. I finally capitulated when she asked if I would take them for my boys when they grew up. I insisted on paying her for them, and she took all of $200. There I was arguing to give her more and she was trying to give them away for free. One was a 1907 O grade 20 gauge, the other a 1909 2E. They were covered with dust and hadn't been shot in years. I didn't know what they were until I got them home and did a little research. She refused additional coin, and even managed to sneak a Marlin 39A into the deal. I felt plenty guilty, but she wouldn't take another cent from me. What a sweet woman.

Once an old partisan gave me a .25 ACP Walther model 9 he captured back in 1945 from a Croatian officer that didn't need it anymore. The piece was kinda cute but too small for my liking so I traded it for an Austrian Roth-Steyr 8mm. This one had a name engraved on grip and my research showed he was an officer from Zagreb. I knew that Zagreb Museum had a bunch of Winchester 1866s in their depot and I managed to get one in trade. Finaly, after many years, I sold the Winchester to another museum for $8K. In the meantime the old partisan passed away but I still think of him often.

With kind regards,
Jani

The classic I remember is the story (I think in Shooting Sportsman) some years ago about the guy who found the pair of Lebeau-Courallys in a shop in Virginia. Fairly hefty price on them, but not considering that the quality of the guns, plus the initials on the escutcheons, indicated they'd likely belonged to Nicholas II, the last czar.

A guy at the duck club:

"Last Christmas, I got a shotgun for my wife. Best trade I ever made."

Not too long ago I bought a "sporterized" mauser rifle off the internet. The owner had it posted for a while without any interest. He sent me pictures and it had the Oberndorf stamp on the side rail.I thought I might make a custom rifle out of it so I picked it up for $175 shipped. Found out later it is an "Army Hunting Rifle" model sporting rifle in 9x57 that the guys on the Nito Express website valued at $3500. Another is the Remington 721 in 300 H&H I bought at an auction that was stored so heavily in grease the bolt stop wouldn't return. Everytime someone picked it up the bolt would fall out. $75 for that one and once the grease was removed it was in excellent shape. Then I bought the box with the .300 dies, a couple of boxes of shells, and brass for $20. Oh yeah, the auctioneers called it a 30-06. I guess I was the only one to look at it closely. Same thing at a different auction, they called the heavily greased Springfield a 303 British. Original barrel with very good bore and made in 1918. A whole $65 for that one. A hundred guys and nobody recognized or cared it was a Springfield. Only in Canada, eh. I hardly ever sell or trade anything so all are still with me.

The year was 1970 and I bought an Indian motorcycle basket case for $15 (no title). I bought a second basket for $50 with title, combined the two along with $50 parts into one working motorcycle. I didn't much care to ride the Indian, I was used to riding a Norton Atlas, a superior handling bike. I traded the Indian for $300 and a Winchester Buffalo Bill Centenial 30-30. I then traded the 30-30 for a 12 gauge single-trigger LC Smith that was cosmetically in 95% condition. Unfortunately, the trigger was bad and it would spontaneously fire. I spent $75 getting it repaired (I thought), but I never used it and finally sold it for $300 in 1979.
So there it is, all starting with a $15 Indian sitting in parts in the middle of a field in the back of a pickup truck.
Steve
As a postscript, I've told this story before, but it turns out the LC Smith wasn't properly repaired and it discharged both barrels all on its own in a duck blind. Fortunately, I'd given the new owner the repair receipt so he knew exactly who to be furious with (thankfully not me).

I never sold a gun in my life, probably never will. When I was 16 I traded an old beat up Crapdoor Springfield to a gunsmith for a custom stock on my 7x57 Mauser. He was so thrilled he let me have my choice of stock blanks and custom fit the thing to my measurements. We were both doing cartwheels over the deal.

Back in the middle 60's, during my foolish youth, I took an FN Mauser to a gun show. Traded for a DHE Parker after running to the bank to raid the college fund for a few bucks. Took the Parker home and got cold feet after I discovered the barrels and action didn't have matching serial numbers. Back to the gun show and traded the Parker for a Martini Cadet in the white with a Fajen stock blank and some pieces/parts to finish the rifle. Still have the Martini but spent the rest of my life wondering about that DHE. Anyone in SD own a good looking DHE, beaver tail forearm, sn in the 120's, with non-matching serial numbers?

Steve

I traded a Parker DHE Trap Model that I bought from Muderlak for a DHE straight grip, splinter forend, 34 inch, 12 gauge on a #3 frame that fits me like I ordered it new.

At the time I thought I might be giving a gun worth a bit more but was willing because I wanted the 34 inch gun so badly. Then a similar gun, but completely refinished with choke tubes added, sold for over $9000 at auction. I didn't feel so bad after that, mine is all original.


Destry