Irish Lugers
I considermyself very fortunate to be the current owner of one of the Navy Lugers smuggled into Ireland by Sir Richard Casemate, a British noble actively involved in seeking Irish independence, and subsequently captured by the British government. These pistols -there were about 20-were purchased as a group by a gentleman in Virginia from the irish government and have a great deal of paper trail backing them up. Mine is a little banged up on the exterior from the poor storage practices in the dublin Castle evidence locker, but internally it appears as new.
I purchased the pistol from the late Frank De Mauro, a very interesting character and fine Luger holster repair craftsman (but not as good as our own-and very much alive-Jerry Burney).
The story of these guns and casemate's subsequent trial is very well told in the book, The Rebels, the author of which I do not remember.
Tom
|