Date: Fri 20-Mar-1998

Publication: Ant

Author: DONNAM

Quick Words:

Dillinger

Full Text:

Butterfield Arms Sale

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF. -- The gun used to kill John Dillinger 60 years ago was

sold at auction February 23 by Butterfield & Butterfield for $25,875 during a

sale of antique arms and armor.

The auction room was filled after buyers hustled from their cars and into the

gallery during one of the many winter rain storms pelting the West Coast.

Total auction sales came to $1,449,767 and a world record was set.

Writers have argued over conflicting reports of Dillinger's ambush killing in

1934 outside of Chicago's Biograph Theater. The gun sold on February 23 is a

.38 caliber model 1905 Smith & Wesson. Butterfield arms specialists expected

the double-action revolver, with walnut grips and five inch barrel, to sell

for $20,000 to $25,000. Due to competitive bidding by phone as well as in the

auction room, the gun fetched $25,875.

A silver sundial/compass with provenance including prior ownership by Louis

XIV and later looted by Napoleon, was the top seller. Made by Butterfield of

Paris, it was purchased by a telephone bidder for $67,750 (est $25/50,000).

Additional auction highlights included a rare circa 1860 California dress

knife made in San Francisco by Michael Price, with an unusual carved walrus

ivory grip and six-inch blade, which fetched a world record price of $63,000

(est $15/25,000).

Bidding battles ensued for a pair of Colt second model dragoon percussion

revolvers, which went for $57,500 (est $30/40,000), and the sale of a cased

pair of gold-inlaid self-opener sidelock ejector guns by J. Purdey and Sons,

London, circa 1930, which went for $34,500.

A cased Colt model 1860 army percussion revolver with shoulder stock sold for

$26,450, while an unusual LeMat style pinfire revolver with carved ivory grips

sold far above estimate for $24,150, and a cased Colt model 1911 Al prototype

semi-automatic pistol by Singer Mfg Co sold for $19,550.

Multiple lots stemmed from the collection of Brian Reynolds of Greenwich,

Conn., and featured military helmets, hats, shakos and bonnets. A rare early

form Greek bronze helmet of Corinthian form, probably dating to the

Eighth/Seventh Centuries, BC, sold for $31,625, and a Zischagge, a

mid-Seventeenth Century cavalry officer's helmet that was probably Flemish,

sold for $20,700.