Ralph Shattuck

[Thor]

I am really taken aback by this news. I have very fond memories of Natalie and I flying to Phoenix and visiting him and buying an assortment of guns. He and Nancy were truely gracious people and always rolled out the red carpet for us. Marvin Cook and I went back to see him after that. Then we had the Luger forum conventions there and was terrific to see everyone and spend time with Ralph, Nancy and their collections. I wrote a short story of each visit as they were very important and I wanted to remember every detail. One of the strongest memories was the first visit, when we entered the LUGER ROOM and smelled 1600 LUGERS, Ralph made a comment to Natalie that he wished he could put a bunch of them on the floor for me to roll around in. The other impression was kind of a "Deer in the headlights" moment when the ambiance was so over whelming. I count myself very lucky to have viewed his Luger history written on the wall of his collection and meeting two people that were so very nice to me. He helped me get my business going as did John and Jen Dunkle and many on the Luger forum. I will remain his friend and miss him dearly! He was one of a kind, that's for sure!

[cirelaw]

Ted, I only wish I were with You on one of Your visits. Ralph did coauther a book with Sam Constanza 'World Of Lugers, Proof Marks' a complete listing of different variations of Proof Marks on the luger 1977. It contain over 300 luger proof marks and diagrams.

[Russ]

This is very sad. Ralph was a good guy. He will be missed by all.

Russ

[tracyp]

I went to the Luger forum convention in 2002. It was great to meet Ralph and several others from the forum. Seeing Ralph's collection was amazing. Ralph was very gracious. He let us hold and look anything in his collection. It was a memorable time. Is there a story behind Ralph's red jacket he always wore?

My thoughts are with Ralph's family.

Tracy.

[cirelaw]

I once asked Ralph how did he amass such an overwhelming collection? He simply said. One gun at a time!! Can't argue with that!!!! I had also asked him why the red jacked?? He said it was easily recognizable..... Can't argue with success.

[cirelaw]

The last luger I will ever buy from Ralph. A 1937 Krieghoff with 2 matching mag and all the trimmings in mint condition! Yes You pay for excellance.

[Railsplitter]

Well, from the looks of that beauty the last think I would expect is for some one to be giving it away!

[cirelaw]

Ralph not only a friend but a business. I paid for all of these but I got quality, especially my 1920 carbine and 1900 Test Piece and holster. Jerry Burney handmade the leather carbine case.

[John Sabato]

I only had the privilege of meeting Ralph and his wife once at a gun show several years ago.

He was very coordial and we talked for a very long time... about Lugers... and about the success of the Lugerforum ...it was a very interesting experience... and I am glad to have known him. He never posted much here, but I know he came lurking often to read the knowledge shared on the forum.

Rest in Peace Ralph... and may God comfort his family in their loss.

[Thor]

A couple of pictures from our visits with them. Good times!
http://members.rennlist.org/lugerman/Ralph&Thor2.JPG
http://members.rennlist.org/lugerman/Ralph&Thor.JPG
http://members.rennlist.org/lugerman/Ralph&Natalie.JPG
This is the story of my first trip to see Ralph and Nancy! What a thrill it was and I am glad I captured it in words!
TRIP TO THE WORLD OF LUGERS
MY VISIT WITH RALPH SHATTUCK 2/6/2000
By: Ted Green, Rio Rancho, NM 87124

Well, we flew into Phoenix early on Saturday, flight was smooth as silk and we got there at 7:40 AM. Went to Hertz picked up a 2000 Mustang. Stopped at Dennys and had a delightfull filling buffet breakfast. Went to the mall about three miles from Ralphs house and killed a couple of hours and much of my jitters! We had located the house right after breakfast so we would be on time for sure. I had done some homework on Yahoo and got several different scales of maps to his house which was good as he lives in a community where the roads are windy and only a couple of access points into the housing development. WOW, Ralph lives in Peoria AZ in the country club district. Lots of green fairways, duck ponds and palm trees, outstanding place-a real Oasis in the middle of the desert! We arrived 5 minutes early and approached the house with much anticipation We took in a folder with some documents (Signed FFL) checkbook, etc and our digital camera and many stomach butterflys. We approached the door and range the bell. Part 2...........

Time on Target-1:00pm Ring the door bell. About 30 seconds......... The door opens. "Welcome and come on in!" A very friendly and gracious Ralph Shattuck shakes my hand and I introduce my sweet wife Natalie! We exchange a few pleasantries that escape me now, as my head spins with anticipation! He steps back a couple of paces and opens to large... doors.....the smell of weapontry WELLS over me,, taking my senses by storm. Now my heart races, he anounces in a firm voice that rings in my ears!!!! "Welcome to my world........Welcome....to the WORLD OF LUGERS" I stand at the brink and take in a deep breath of that delightful air. "I always wondered what 1600 Lugers would smell like, it's .....simply wonderful".........part 3

After I caught my breath and started to take it all in I noticed that the upper 1/2 of the walls had Lugers mounted on pegs on a wooden peg board under a sliding glass cover. These Were Ralphs personal collection!! Under this glass and illuminated by soft ultraviolet light (Ralph says direct sunlight or bright incandenscent light will fade straw and finish) were the illustrated history of the Luger pistol from to start to finish. WOW, what a display and each an excellent example of the variations. I noticed a 1916 DWM with soft Blonde grips that reminded me of a Luger that was used for the the Tales of the Gun Series on the History Channel last summer. Sure enough a small blemish on the lower right of the side plate matched the gun to the tape I have of that show! I had sent Ralph a listing of about a dozen variations that I was interested in and he had examples of these all sprawled out on the couch. He said to my wife "Look at him Natalie, I could have put em on the ground and he could have rolled around in them, but that might scatch them up" I looked over each example on the sofa and while I was doing that he said "That was a good idea you had and saved us both time" There was a dated Simson, an American Eagle Stoeger, Krieghoff, byf Black Widow and several others. None of them but the Simson really struck my fancy. part 4.........



Whew, under all of Ralph's Collection was 5 rows of Lugers set upside down with the butt end up. Many were stored this way and it made for a compact method to contain them. I told Ralph that since I had sent him the list I had studied my Luger books some more and had come up with the very idea gun I wanted to purchase. I got this idea from Jan Still's Third Reich Lugers, the front section of pictures before the body of the book. I told him I wanted 1. A black Widow Luger, byf 41 with full miltary acceptance stamps/proofs 2. This Luger has to have two matching serialized magazines 3. It also had to have a dated holster to match the year 4. It had to be in excelent shape and 5. It had to be issued to the NAZI police instead of the military. WELL.......he said "That is a tough order to fill. His eyebrow kind of raised with each additional stipulation and finally he said "Just give me a minute" and he disappeared into the back room, to reappear after about 3 minutes holding the gun i had requested. I looked it over with mouth agape! Ralph this is just what I wanted and in awefully good condition too! He said it had come from a guy that only collected NAZI police Lugers. I asked the price and he told me..ouch kinda steep, but for that Luger, not bad at all. Part5......

Sorry to be so long winded, but you guys asked for a FULL report and you're getting it. After he told me the price of the police black widow, I asked him to leave it there and that I also wanted to see if he had a Commerical Luger that had very light blonde grips like the 1916 DWM Military I described, and he said flat out, sorry, I don't have anything like that. I said okay and we started looking around at other Lugers. In about 5 minutes, a light must have gone off in his head and he said "A HA! I might have just such a gun, a new arrival" Again he disappeared into the back room and came back with an awesome site. A 1923 Commercial that appeared in the factory new unfired state. This gun had NO evidence that it had ever been HANDLED at all, much less fired. I asked my wife, "Honey, do you like this one, it is really a gem" She gulped and said in a weak voice "Of course I like it, that's a silly question, it's beautiful" I asked the price and thought it low for a gun of that magnitude of quality and beauty! I put it next to the police Luger and kept circling the room! I found something in the corner and asked him "Are these for sale" He said "What are you looking at" I said part 6........

I said "I am looking at the mintest PPK s(plural PPK) I have ever seen in my life! In fact two of them....These are.... gulp....really stunning! How much are they?" Well it turns that someone else was also looking for a PPK and Ralph told me this but said "Do you want these" I said "I want this one, how much is it" He told me and then he came over and looked at them and we both agreed which was the better of the two and he said "I want you to have the best one" WOW that really impressed me! Talk about being number one! I told him, "We'll take all three Ralph, The police Black Widow, the 1923 in Factory new condition ,and the Walther PPK 7.65mm in Mint condition!" Part 7 (that's all tonight)

Well after we had picked out our goodies, Ralph went into his office (that was the back room he kept ducking into to retrieve those awesome guns) and as he keyed in our invoice, he said "Go ahead and look at anything you want and you can take all the pictures you want, Me casa es su Casa (my house is your house)" He had P38s, Colts, and several of types of guns. He has a big Luger that was built by a machinist for him and was about 2 & 1/2 feet long from back of the rear sight to the end of the barrel, it was completely stainless steel by appearace. He had many pictures of Germans, Hilter, Goehrign,Gobbels, Himmler. There is a picture of a German Fighter bomber that was green color emerging from a cloud of flame. He said he used this with his displays of Krieghoffs (made for the German Airforce) that he takes to shows. We got to look and hold Georg Luger's Personal 7 Shot-protype and the August Weiss's personal Luger, only one each of those every made. We also checked out the baby Luger that Mike Krause copied to make his run of copies of this weapon. What struck me was the very small size, much smaller than Georg's snubby! We were having a ball! Part 8.......

After Ralph got our invoice ready and I wrote him a large check, we were basically done. This took us only one hour of our alloted time. We thought we were going to go, but we actually had two more hours left. Ralph said "I hope you don't have to leave, please stay and we'll talk about anything you want and you can continue to look at anything you wish!" Well, we couldn't turn down that offer. We all sat and talked he wanted to know all about my profession and our little girls. We wanted to know about his business and how long he had been interested in Lugers. He is just turned 70 years old and he said he started when he was 14! We had a ball the rest of our time and 4:00pm came much earlier than I expected Ralph asked me when was I going to get my FFL, I don't know where he was going with that question, but Natalie thought he was encouraging me in a subtle way to get into the business. We also talked about him being active as a deputy commander in the Peoria Sheriffs department. He showed me a glock and a snubby 38 that he used as carry guns. Nancy had brought us refreshments and we just thought she was great two. We had seen many pictures of her and Ralph throughout his carerr. We said goodbye and he reopened the front door and ran out and said "send me an email with pictures, I want to see those kids you are braggin about" (our own two sweet little girls) I noticed an American flag and another, probably the arizona flag on a flag pole at his diveway as we left and sped away, much better for the awesome experience we had just had. Ralph Shattuck is a remarkable human being and meeting him was a thrill of a lifetime and all those great Lugers, WOW, what a combination! Wish I could do this again, maybe in another 25 years! Maybe sooner! Much Sooner! That's all folks!

[cirelaw]

Your pictures are timeless along with the memories. Did You notice He had large hands and flat thumbs. That is a specific trait in His ancestry.

[suum cuique]

Ted,
thanks alot for sharing your wonderful experience at Mr. Shattuck's home.
Of course, I've never had the privilege to meet him in person but from all I have learned about him and saw the photos of him, always with an warm smile on his face, I believe he was a very nice Gentleman.














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[Thor]

March 3rd, 2001 was the date of the first LUGER FORUM convention at WORLD OF LUGERS. I was priviledged to be able to attend. A great adventure in Lugers and dear friends!

[DavidJayUden]

How about some names to go along with the faces?

[tracyp]

I have only met four: Ted, G.T. , John D., and Ralph. I wonder how many are still active members?

[Frank]

Front row Kneeling, Left to Right: Marvin Cook & Jack McCabe
Middle Row Seated Left to Right: Murray Willis (from Australia), Ralph & Gerry Lee (GT’s Son)
Back Row Standing, Left to Right: My Son Mike, Yours Truly, Ted Green (Thor), Hugh Clark, Bill Forsyth, GT & John D.

As far as I know, all are still active except Jack McCabe, My Son & of course Ralph. Although Ralph is probably still looking over all Luger Collectors.

[DavidJayUden]

I'd swear GT could hunt bear with a stick...
dju

[cirelaw]

Whose good idea were the name tags?

[tracyp]

I went the next year and I think Ralph passed out the name tags.

[cirelaw]

Ralph also publish His second caused me to call him and eventually broke my virginity and purchased the 1906 'French Luger'. While growing up I spent 2 summers Wth a Basque family in Bayonne France.