Frank and ToggleTop,
Thanks for the nice comments. It does take time to do this stuff but I enjoy sharing it with folks that are appreciative of my efforts.
There is more to the story and that is how I got the gun.
There was an ad in Shotgun News about 7+ years ago detailing the gun with a "matching" 1943 holster. I initially passed off the ad as something a little flakey. By late afternoon that day I decided, what the heck, it's only a few bucks for a phone call. I figured the gun would be gone, anyway. I called and Mr. Stamell told me I was the first to call. I was amazed.
He had taken the gun to a "gun shop expert" who did not tell him that it was a police gun, which I did.
I later found out that Mr. Stamell was a Russian Jew. I used to do some business (buying motorcycles) with an ex Auschwitz concentration camp prisoner with the numbers on his arm and he had written a book about his experiences. I told Mr. Stamell about the book and he seemed very interested. Mr. Stamell was nice enough to write the letter, which was an after thought on my part and not part of the original deal, so I went to the guy that wrote the book, bought a copy, had him autograph it to Mr. Stamell and shipped it to him. He was thrilled.
Regards, Leon
|