Fred, I love those photos. Thanks for posting them again.
My story from Michael is very different. I never actually met him but I did talk to him about a strange gun.
The rifle was a Sharp Model 74. There were a number of unusual things about, one of which was that it was charred by a fire on the left side. So it was a very identifiable gun. But there was something else about as well and I have forgotten now what it was. Some feature that made it especially valuable, but I have forgotten now what it was.
In any event, the rifle was for sale at a Rock Island Auction. Michael had seen it in their catalog and recognized the burn mark on it. He also was that some things had been added to the rifle -I wish I could remember, but it has been altered significantly in some way, and he sent me photos of the gun with the same burn marks before the alteration. It was obviously the same wood, but it was not the same gun. It was now a fake. And that is why he called.
What he wanted to do, and I agreed to, was to write up a description documenting the fake, put it all in a letter and envelope addressed to RIA, and send it to me. I was to then open the outer envelope, and remail the inner envelope to RIA so that it would have an Iowa, not Alaska postal code on it, no return address.
Apparently, he felt that RIA would see any AK postmark and know it was from him and he wanted to remain anonymous in all of this. I don't know why he was worried about anonymity.
It all seemed quite legitimate to me (that is Michael's story), so I agreed and deed was done. RIA never changed their listing of the rifle on their website, and I was never able to learn what it sold for, but it appeared that the rifle was sold as was claimed and not as what it was.
I wish I could remember the details of what was wrong with that rifle and why it was so much more valuable for the alteration. Maybe it will come to me. But think Michael was really unhappy to see that rifle sold as a fake.
![[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]](https://i.imgur.com/qclHjMQ.jpg)
