Hard to tell from the photo in the paper, but a rather scruffy looking Russian sold for $10,925 at the recent Rock Island Auction event. But that's not the story!
The story goes like this: A Russian revolver manufactured by S&W more than 130 years ago was seized in 2012-2013 from Taliban forces by an officer of the Afghan National Army. He used the weapon as a personal firearm for a time before presenting it to a U.S. Army Major Andrew A. Vincent serving with the NATO training mission in Afghanistan. Vincent presented an affidavit with the revolver certifying the weapon was a legal war trophy. (This from the October 6, 2014 issue of Antique Week.)
Ralph Tremaine