Check THIS Out!

[Spotted Bull]

You  know you are important when the rifle made for you has your PICTURE on it!!

https://www.morphyauctions.com/jamesdjulia/item/53211-1-402/

[Hank in WV]

Darn, leave it to me to misplace my checkbook at a time like this. The workmanship is unbelievable.

[Nessmuk]

Interesting  rifle with an interesting  story. So this unidentified  U.S. Army officer just plucked this gorgeous  rifle out of burn pile in 1945 and walked away with it? You'd  think the French government  would have a claim on it.

Bull, your always good for an interesting  article, Thaks!!

[prairie dog]

Wow!
That gives me an idea!  Think I will put my photograph under glass inside my patch box.   

[Spotted Bull]

Wow!
That gives me an idea!  Think I will put my photograph under glass inside my patch box.   

LOL!!

[PetahW]

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The closest I ever came to that was old hunting licenses of mine that I stash under the buttplate of every gun I own.   

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[Winter Hawk]

Interesting  rifle with an interesting  story. So this unidentified  U.S. Army officer just plucked this gorgeous  rifle out of burn pile in 1945 and walked away with it? You'd  think the French government  would have a claim on it.

It says "the gun was in as found, closet condition. Some of the elaborate wire inlays in the stock were loose, there was also a crack in the stock near the rear of the action, and a few other rather insignificant imperfections, which included a couple of small missing pieces of silver and a replaced mother-of-pearl portrait hidden beneath the lid of the stock. The gun was properly and thoroughly cleaned and what little restoration work that needed to be done was done in the finest order by one of the foremost authorities on early firearms restorations...."

I think the burn pile was confiscated guns after the German surrender.  Considering all the damage inflicted throughout Europe the French government probably had other things to worry about than an old relic from Louis XV.  A German soldier had probably looted it and when disarmed it ended up with other guns to be destroyed.

[Ohio Joe]

Interesting  rifle with an interesting  story. So this unidentified  U.S. Army officer just plucked this gorgeous  rifle out of burn pile in 1945 and walked away with it? You'd  think the French government  would have a claim on it.

Bull, your always good for an interesting  article, Thaks!!

I don't think after what America did for France (and the rest of the world) during and after WWII, I doubt the French were gonna worry to much about a muzzle loading rifle no matter how fancy, and I kind'a doubt back in those days when the troops boarded the ships to return home - they did just that with no real "customs" as we know it today, but rather they were GI Issue, and they were going home... 

[PetahW]

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aka: The spoils of war.....   


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[Winter Hawk]

aka: The spoils of war.....

A guy a knew in Ketchikan had a nice Samurai sword hanging on the wall.  His father had liberated it during WW2 in the Pacific and brought it home in his duffle bag.  Another WW2 vet I knew in Fairbanks had a pristine Luger he brought home from the European theater. 

I believe that the vast majority of our troops had no interest at all in muzzle loading guns and had no idea of their value; they wanted to get their hands on "real" firearms so it's a wonder that someone pulled this one out of the burn pile!  The high prices put on historical guns is really a fairly modern phenomenon.  Look at what really nice old Kentuckies and such were going for in the 1940s and '50s compared to what they are going for now!

~Kees~