Return Of The Townsend Whelen .35

[Chuckindenver]

$60.00 would likely proove him wrong, Freedom of imformation act, and a letter to Redstone would get the sales history of that rifle.
but my take..
if you truly dont want to sell a rifle, why would you advertise it, and when a possible buyer asks for proof of your statements of the said rifle being genuine, the only reason said rifle is valued at such a large ammount, is its history, wouldnt you want to provide that proof??
or is he just feeding his own ego, so to speak..
i run into those same type of collector dealer types all the time.
when they die, the exwife sells said ultra rare collection for pennies on the dollar, as she usually hated those &^% guns anyway.
one said dealer collector had a Remington 760 owned by Sammy davis JR, he had some proof, from the Estate.
and had a price of 6500.00 on the rifle, i was eyeballing the rifle, and the document with my hands behind my back, dealer says, impresssive huh??
well, thats one word that fits for sure.
thats all i said, and looked at the rest of his collection, seemed everything was owned by someone famous, had some sort of story line or other lot of BS that went with it.
a hunting knife owned by Teddy Ros, ect...
i noticed the only thing selling off his display was vintage pictures, and modern made arrow heads being humped off as found.
at 10.00 a head.

Nick ferris asked me a couple years ago, if i would come over and give him a rough value of his collection.
he does have some neet rifles, and a couple nice pistols.
so my responce was.
Nick as much as i care about you and value your friendship, but your guns will be worth a lot more after your gone, if you document, and log your rifles in a book, sign the book, date it and a small story of who you got the rifle from, and what it meens in your collection, or like his Marine rifle, no serialed Reminton 03,s the story he knows via research.
i really think he is clueless to how people view him and some of the books he and Mr Beard have put out.
much like Brophys estate, or anyone who has wrote a book on a collectable rifle.
such as 1903 SA from the Brophy estate..ect. could be a plain jane 800.00 rifle, but since it came from his collection, it would likely fetch more then 1800.00
he later that day, come over to my table and thanked me for my candid responce, and my honesty.
i told him, i trully hope the value of his collection stays low for many years, as i enjoy seeing him, and sharing the BS about guns.
not many guys iv known over the years ask me to loan them a part so they can take pictures of it, with ill bring it back next time i see you.

[Michael Petrov]

It’s simple, you either have proof of ownership (provenance) or you don’t there is no gray area. Townsend Whelen was the most prolific firearm writer in history and he wrote and published thousands of articles. Someone needs to do an article on the history of the 35 Whelen ;-). As a matter of fact Townsend Whelen’s grandson is busy working on a bibliography of his writings.
This was Whelen’s 1903 made by Wundhammer and I can prove it!

[Michael Petrov]

I'll ask the owner of this rifle to tell you about it.

[Chuckindenver]

Art, plain and simple.. stunning rifle.

[Lancebear]

Hey Jim,

Not the kinda' letter I'd be writin' to a Combat Marine with fightin' experience from the RVN and maybe more dangerous battle experience earned in Louisiana and Texas.

Sure you were polite, try as you might...ya' can't change the stripes on a know it all. Bet he has gotten a few letters like yours.

Maybe he meant paragraphs when he wrote 27 "Books".

Death to ignorance and stupidity,

Robert

[Jim Tarleton]

Robert:
I have no idea what PO'ed him. I was very polite and courteous, or so I thought. I wrote him off pretty quickly when I saw his response. I never even hinted that the rifle wasn't what he said it was. Go figure.

Michael:
Incredible rifles, and I have no doubt they are exactly what you say they are. I never get tired of looking at the work of master craftsmen. No matter how I try, I can't come close.

Chuck:
I agree with what you said about the value of Ferris's rifles. I would pay a premium just because he once owned it.

Jim

[Lancebear]

Hey Jim,

You are a smart one, you know exactly what lit his fuse even though you were polite...he's been questioned by experts that have called him on concrete provenance several times. Probably paid too much for the rifle and is trying to pass off the loss and make a profit on his mistake.

Well...any man who has sixteen grand of gun money to spend will certainly have done his homework. That $500.00 rifle will never sell. Sure he paid a lot more for it. Bought the story not the rifle, and he is caught and bitter.

Think it is a fine thing that '03 experts here take the time and risk to help clear the water in the M1903 collecting world with no reward. Rookie collectors will continue to take their lumps without homework or making friends and asking questions. Nothin' you can do about that but it's nice that ya' try to help.

Robert

[Michael Petrov]

Jim, The second rifle belongs to a friend and he must be off the computer or he would have responded. The rifle is Townsend Whelen's rifle in caliber .35-Whelen. Was originally a .400-Whelen and he had it re-barreled circa 1950 to .35-Whelen.

[Jim Tarleton]

It is a gorgeous rifle. Simple elegance.
Jim

[Chuckindenver]

my take on emails.
if your nice, and write it nice, and the reader is a Ahole. he will read it as he wrote it, and think YOUR the Ahole..
had you asked him face to face, i doubt he would have responded the same way.
makes since dont it?