ITEM # 280
serial #020820, 22 LR (rechambered to .22 WRF), 8" barrel with an excellent bore. Metal surfaces on this nice single shot pistol retain about 98% original high-polish blue finish, the loss being very minor flaking on the frontstrap and bottom of the trigger guard. The gun wears factory extended target style checkered walnut grips with recessed gold S&W medallions, they are unnumbered. The gun comes in its original purple hinge top box, the remnants of the serial number can be read on the bottom. The locking latch recess in the barrel is serial numbered to frame, the latch itself is numbered either "666" or "999". Both hammer and trigger exhibit excellent casecolors. Included in the box is the original factory test target dated 12-30-38 and serial numbered to the gun, it appears to have been shot by"Ed Landa". Well outside of the normal serial number range, and serial numbered on the bottom of the butt -- this is a somewhat engimatic gun. If it was indeed ordered by Mr. C.D. Lay, it was done so long after production of this gun had officially stopped. Interestingly an onion-skin copy of a 1941 dated letter to the National Rifle Association in Washington complains about the pistol: "I never did have much fun with it and I have just discovered that a Peter's high velocity is what fits the chamber. Will it be safe to use these cartridges in it and if not what can be done with the pistol?". Evidently Mr. Charles Downing Lay (writer of the letter) was having some problems with the match chamber (no telling when or why it was subsequently opened to "W.R.F."). The National Rifle Association's reply letter is included. (The pistol is not mentioned by serial number in the letter, however the letters and test target have been in this box, under paper for a very long time.) Interestingly Charles Downing Lay was a fairly prominent New York landscape architect, who from boyhood had a keen interest in the land and all things outdoors. He was founder of the Housatonic Valley Association, a conservation organization which now protects some 2000 square miles of the Housatonic River Valley. Many of his works can still be seen to this day in and around the greater New York metropolitan area. Lay died in 1956 at the age of 79. Overall an interesting gun which would likely benefit from further, more diligent research. (1996-35) {C&R} (2000/4000) SOLD FOR $2875.00 |
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