RM Vivas
US Veteran
I used to know a fellow who collected US Martial firearms. He had a museum-grade collection and would have things that you just had to wonder how he got them.
For instance, he had a CASE of Krag carbines. All original Krag carbines, in the original shipping case from Springfield Armory, with the shipping invoice matching all the serial numbers!!!
I asked him once how he latched onto such a great find. His response was "When you've been in the business long enough, you don't have to go looking for deals; the deals will come looking for you."
So, the other night I'm doing my gun auction equivalent of a nocturnal drive-by when I spy an interesting old Colt Official Police. Now, I already have a couple NYPD documented Colt OPs in my collection, but a close examination of this particular OP reveals a stamped shield number (an indicator of NYPD usage) and it has the seldom seen round butt frame.
RL Wilson and I had spoken about the RB OP's once and he stated that he believed they were made up using leftover Colt Marshall frames.
I already have an NYPD RB OP but I figured I'd throw a bid at it. What the heck, if I win I'll have two of these uncommon guns.
So I win and I'm on the phone chatting with the seller who owns a gunshop in an area that get slots of cops, ex-cops and cops families.
We are chatting about stuff that interests us and about NYPD stuff (he's retired off 'da Job) and I'm telling him about my recent Bloomingdale Trophy gun acquisition. He mentions that he just got a gun a few weeks ago that had a similar inscription…….
Synchronicity.
We chatted, we texted, we sent some images back and forth and…….
We hemmed, we hawed, we did the little dance and I am now the proud owner of a Chiefs Special 1955 Keeler Trophy gun.
Amongst NYPD Trophy Guns, the Keeler Trophy (named after the head of the Kings County (that's Brooklyn!) Grand Jurors Association), is a rather hard one to find. It was only awarded for a few years.
Hopefully it will be here by the end of the week and I'll have a write up on it by the weekend with the usual obligatory images.
Best,
RM Vivas
For instance, he had a CASE of Krag carbines. All original Krag carbines, in the original shipping case from Springfield Armory, with the shipping invoice matching all the serial numbers!!!
I asked him once how he latched onto such a great find. His response was "When you've been in the business long enough, you don't have to go looking for deals; the deals will come looking for you."
So, the other night I'm doing my gun auction equivalent of a nocturnal drive-by when I spy an interesting old Colt Official Police. Now, I already have a couple NYPD documented Colt OPs in my collection, but a close examination of this particular OP reveals a stamped shield number (an indicator of NYPD usage) and it has the seldom seen round butt frame.
RL Wilson and I had spoken about the RB OP's once and he stated that he believed they were made up using leftover Colt Marshall frames.
I already have an NYPD RB OP but I figured I'd throw a bid at it. What the heck, if I win I'll have two of these uncommon guns.
So I win and I'm on the phone chatting with the seller who owns a gunshop in an area that get slots of cops, ex-cops and cops families.
We are chatting about stuff that interests us and about NYPD stuff (he's retired off 'da Job) and I'm telling him about my recent Bloomingdale Trophy gun acquisition. He mentions that he just got a gun a few weeks ago that had a similar inscription…….
Synchronicity.
We chatted, we texted, we sent some images back and forth and…….
We hemmed, we hawed, we did the little dance and I am now the proud owner of a Chiefs Special 1955 Keeler Trophy gun.
Amongst NYPD Trophy Guns, the Keeler Trophy (named after the head of the Kings County (that's Brooklyn!) Grand Jurors Association), is a rather hard one to find. It was only awarded for a few years.
Hopefully it will be here by the end of the week and I'll have a write up on it by the weekend with the usual obligatory images.
Best,
RM Vivas
