Read in between the lines for me.

[englishman_ca]

I recently added an older carbine to my collection from a private seller, selling for a friend.

I noticed an electro penciled number on the butt plate very discreetly done. It looked like an inventory number of sorts. I chatted with the vendor and he could not help much with the provenance except that he believed that the carbine was part of a large collection out of Ontario purchased by a museum in Alberta. ah ha! Museum, inventory number, I need to find what info there might be on the ledger entry.

I got in touch with the museum, and got the following reply. No further response from the museum to any further questions.

Read this and tell me your take on it.


I am sorry but the sale of these firearms did not include the collection records. There is no one to do this work and the purchaser was not interested in the provenance which was reflected in the purchase price.

Destruction of these records is pending.

To me, this is a polite way of saying 'not interested, bugger off!'.

Information

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[capt14k]

Yup. That's exactly what they are saying.

[browningautorifle]

The number isn't a nine digit is it? Is it a social insurance number? That was done lots in the '60's.

Yes, they aren't interested in looking for any info for you.

[englishman_ca]

No, not a social insurance number.


Tis on the face of the butt plate at the edge. Very neatly don, very discrete electro pencil 'M1.1088'.

Could be museum inventory number. Could be a collection id number. Could be many things.

Just surprised that a museum would let recorded historical info wither. All will be history once the records are destroyed.
At one time they thought that the carbine was worthy of exhibiting. But if they dont have the resources and somebody to find the records and look it up, I can understand. Most small museums are run on a volunteer basis.

The trail has gone cold, we will never know.

[Seaforth72]

I worked in museums for 40-years, mainly as a Curator and Manager.

I can say without doubt that those museum staff are lazy bureaucrats and are not dedicated museum people. The key point of museums is keeping the history associated with the artifact! This is called provenance. They will make excuses of course.

The wanton destruction of such records is morally reprehensible. This is like a doctor transferring a patient to a new doctor and refusing to hand over any medical records.

[browningautorifle]

not a social insurance number

Nope...looks like a record of some kind.

[henry r]

It sounds like there might be some serious resentment over the prices achieved on the sale.

If it is possibly to visit in person you may get someone more friendly to your enquiry.

If they refuse again i would at least name and shame the museum. I understand that sometimes museums sell items outside thier normal needs but i wouldn't donate anything to a museum that would actively destroy the provenance of something they are passing on.

[Stanforth]

How is the museum funded? If it has public funding you may be able to apply pressure through a local politician.

[henry r]

NZ carbine?

The figure in the butt is beautiful.

[englishman_ca]

NZ carbine?

The figure in the butt is beautiful.

The private sale Lee Speed carbine actually pre-dates the NZ contract carbine by about ten years.

These were apparently sold to officers to take with them overseas to South Africa.
A little bit better than a sword and pistol I would think.

The workmanship is a tiny bit better than military arms and the wood is certainly selected for its figure.

I gently cleaned and steamed this one. It started out looking like a beater but it came up well.
Somebody years ago had shellacked the wood, and I found traces on the metal too.
Shellac was an old school method to protect and is common to find on old hunting guns used in the weather. It works very well and I wished more old timers had done it.

The wood underneath is starting to pop after about eight or nine sessions with raw linseed oil. I wish that I could find some walnut lumber like this.

Spent quite a while working on the bolt and sear. Bubba had improved things by fitting a Sht.LE cocking piece. With the angle of the bent, it felt like it had a twenty pound trigger pull! I found a Metford cocking piece in the bins that was a take off from a commercial rifle, so it is perfect for the Lee Speed.

The sear position has to be adjusted so that it sits just so. It has to be able to catch the bent and be blocked by the pistol grip safety catch. Neat mechanism that is so simple yet effective, it is pure design genius..