.32 Long M&P Arrived Today - Letter Update

[handejector]

Read his sibling, Daniel, for full family history.

Have a link?

 

[SWSC]

Alfred James Handel (1911-1962) - Find a Grave Memorial

 

[Modified]

That turned out to be exactly what I had expected. I would like to know why a Marine would want a .32 M&P.

He has good taste?

 

[AKtinman]

AKtinman, did you get any indication of where the gun had been recently? I assume that it was consigned to the auction house from somewhere, but any indication where it's been for the last 83 years?
Froggie

No idea, Froggie.

The gun was sold by a gun shop in Madison, Mississippi and represented as having come from the estate of a "local collector." The collector must have been an interesting guy - the majority of the guns purported to be from this estate have been pre-war S&W and Colts, many having the original grips replaced by ivory, pearl, or bone/stag.

I checked the serial numbers of many of the older K-Frames in the auction over the past couple of months in the hope that the gun serial might match the mismatched grips on my gun and that gun might have the correct grips for this .32, but no joy.

As to where it has been? The gun came to me out of Mississippi.

SWSC's link to find-a-grave shows Alfred J. Handel buried in Seattle.

Colonel Benjamin W. Gally was advanced to Brigadier General upon his retirement and is buried in California.

Questions: Was Corporal Handel the actual buyer, or was he acting as the intermediary to receive the gun and pass it to the new owner?

Was Major Gally the intended recipient?

Were Corporal Handel and Major Gally participants in a plan to ultimately present this gun to a respected senior officer / enlisted man as a retirement gift?

Lots of what-if's.

I did not see any indication that either Corporal Handel or Major Gally were involved in competitive shooting, and if they had been, an adjustable sighted gun would have had more appeal.

 

[CptCurl]

I missed this thread the first time around, but I really enjoyed it on its "letter rebound."

Congratulations on such a rare find. Like others, I'm envious.

Thanks for sharing.

Curly

 

[DWalt]

I did not see any indication that either Corporal Handel or Major Gally were involved in competitive shooting, and if they had been, an adjustable sighted gun would have had more appeal.

That was exactly what I figured. If either had been a competitive target shooter, the much more likely choice would have been to get a target model having adjustable sights, not a fixed-sight M&P. I suppose we can never know why a Marine would want such a pipsqueak revolver enough to have it special-ordered.

 

[delcrossv]

... I suppose we can never know why a Marine would want such a pipsqueak revolver enough to have it special-ordered.

Because it's really cool?