[Ron Wood]

Alvin,

Walter does not say he saw #19, this one or any other, he only mentions the account in the British journal and says that â??it is tempting to suggest that the gun is number 19â?â?¦not a shred of evidence that the gun in the article was #19.

â??Is there any possibility that two #19 were madeâ?â?¦not a snowball's chance in the Sahara. Loewe production of the Borchardt (before they became DWM) consisted of three phases, pre-production, early production and late production. There are subtle, but readily identifiable, differences in each. The #19 currently at auction is a LATE Loewe production piece. A few hundred Borchardts had been manufactured by the time this one was produced and there is no imaginable reason why Loewe would reach back to the very beginning of pre-production to give this piece number 19. The only scenario that I can come up with is that whoever renumbered this otherwise lovely Borchardt hoped to capitalize on Walter, or other historical accounts, and represent this gun as having providential lineage. It is this type of deception that is designed to snare the collector with deep pockets but the inability, or lack of initiative, to do authentication research. If you are going to run with the big dogs, you had better be able to pee in the tall grass without it splashing back on you.