The King’s Bicentennial Smith, Liberator Action & Gen. Fuller’s NorK Mosin
I had my eye on Rock Island Auction Company’s premier auction over the weekend and almost pulled the trigger on one item of interest. Some of the more newsworthy and curious pieces were as follows.
Elvis’s Russell Smith-signed and factory engraved exhibition grade Smith & Wesson Model 53 in .22 Magnum Jet. One of the neat things about this hogleg is that it was silver inlaid in a Bicentennial Commemorative theme as it was produced for Presley in 1976 by S&W on spec from Hiram’s of California.
Estimated Price: $60,000 – $90,000
Price Realized: $199,750
Liberators!
Next was Ralph Hagan’s Liberator FP-45 collection. Perhaps the most complete group of the single-shot throwaways, Hagan was the author of the definitive work on the guns.
His collection consisted of 10 period guns including the millionth Liberator Pistol presented by the Guide Lamp Division of General Motors to Lt. Fred Thacker, U.S. Army, who was the military representative on the FP-45 project. Also included was an incredibly rare CIA Deer Gun– the 9mm plastic version of the Liberator created in the Vietnam era, of which only an estimated 20 remain in circulation.
Made by the Guide Lamp Division of the General Motors Company in Anderson, Indiana, the factory cranked out 1,000,000 LP-45s in just 12 weeks.
They shipped in a cardboard box with instructions, a packet of ten .45 hardball rounds, and a wooden dowel used for extracting fired cartridges.
This one, technically sn 1,000,001, was made from spare parts after the run was complete and presented to Lt. Fred Thacker, the Army inspector for the project. (RIAC)
The Liberator saw a very limited number used in Europe, and most deployed went to occupied Philippines and China. In the end, though, most were destroyed.
The Liberators went a little low.
Estimated Price: $90,000 – $140,000
Price Realized: $94K
Personally, I think it would be a great idea if some maker were to produce a run of these guns, correct with the picto-instruction sheet and craftboard box. Vintage Ordnance did so in 2011, asking $515 a pop.
Fuller’s Mosin
My choice, which I was watching and almost pulled the trigger on had it not been for the fact that I just bought a whole shelf of T&E guns from FN that I have been reviewing, was this awesomely historic circa 1929 hex receiver Soviet Izhevsk Arsenal Model 1891 Mosin-Nagant Dragoon inscribed as a Korean War trophy bring back presented to Lt. Gen. Francis (“Frank”) William Farrell of WWII 11th Airborne fame.
It seems to have been captured by 1st Bn, 7th Cav Rgt, 1st Cav Division at Tabu-dong in Sept. 1950, early on in the conflict, while Farrell was head of the Korean MAG which was training the nascent ROK Army.
It only went for $2,350.
Man, I should have got this one…
