Sometimes it seems we know the price of everything and the value of nothing.

TO TJ-
I see why you wouldn't want to shoot it. I personally enjoy and drool over using finely crafted esoteric things. It wasn't made for a lampstand and if you have the $$ to make it yours, I say get your enjoyment out of it, letting it do what it does best, and let the grin grow!

This shotgun's history compares to the Hope Diamond's story. Cool!

If you had the money to buy it, you should shoot it as well.
The gun was made to hunt with imo, and you should use it. Granted you arent going to take it goose hunting in rain and sleet when its -10 C out, but I think that I would use it.

I have to ask if the Buckingham's estate/inheritor is not legally the owner? Or is it an issue of being lost and a statute of limitations running up? It just seems that if my late ancestor lost something like that and it turned up, I'd be looking at whether or not I am entitled to have it back in the family.

I tend to agree with horseman308 and duckcreekdick. Seems to be some shellgame with the actual ownership. I'll bet it gets "discovered" now.

$175,000... I bet old Nash is sitting on a porch in the great reward with Grits Greshham and Bob Ruark shaking their heads...

the old childhood "finders keepers" rule of thumb applies here. if mr. buckingham had come back while i was still there, and explained what had happened, i would have certainly been more than happy to give it back. but, on the other hand, with the inscription right on the barrel, i also would have contacted local police and or game warden and reported it, and held out for a modest "finders fee". lets face it, if the man has enough money to have a gun specially made for him, he can afford a finders fee. i also would have told him face to face, that if i ever came across his gun again, he would not get it back. obviously, i have no idea who nash buckingham was. if i came across a gun with the inscription " made for david e. petzal, i would know who it belonged to, and i would know where to contact him. but he had better bring some cash! LOLOL!!!

Read some of Buckingham's stories and you realize he used Bo Whoop (and Bo Whoop II) on many duck hunts in snow, sleet, rain and other inclement weather; it is what the old gun was made for. Sportsmen of those days knew how to take care of their guns when they returned from the blind. If I had Bo Whoop, it would damn sure go duck hunting again. I have a Fox made in 1906 that will still fold a mallard like it probably did a hundred years ago. Every time I take the old gun out, I wonder what stories it could tell. I will go out on a limb and say whoever the mystery man was that originally found Bo Whoop knew damn well what he had and who it belonged to. So did the guy that bought it for $50.00.

FWIW, the gun no longer belonged to Nash once he received a settlement for its loss. It then belonged to the insurance company and I'll bet the statute of limitations on lost, not stolen, property ran out in way less than 7 years.

If you snooze, you lose.

My first shotgun was stephens model 311, 26" barrel with ic/mod chokes...worked all summer long cutting grass to buy that gun...that was back in the late 60's...Gun was stolen out of my car, it really sickened me to know that someone else was hunting with that shotgun. but they couldn't steal the memories i had with that gun..
I am sure it was the same way for Nash, and the person who now has ownership of that gun (bo whoop) can't really enjoy it. even though he paid for the gun it really will never be his.

finders keepers...

Even for this blog, $175,000 sounds like a lot of money for a shotgun you are going to shoot. You could buy a pile of Benellis and a Perazzi or two, the truck to drive them in, and the garage to park the truck in, for that much. On the other hand, $175,000 is not too much to pay for art. A Picasso painting recently sold for $104 million dollars.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3682127.stm

I like the shotgun a lot better than that painting!

Mark-1

EXACTLY! +1

fortyfive70,
My first shotgun was a Stevens 20ga single shot break down (don't remember the model#). But my second and most accurate shotgun was a Stevens 311, 12ga, I loved it. Both barrels were accidentally regulated perfectly. It was stolen too just like yours. The second one I bought was a piece of garbage.

Phil, I find myself in a state of flux. I have been in the field hunting with my father and grandfather since I was 8 years old. I started with a .410 at the 7 station and worked my way out to shoot with a 28 gauge 1100 and then a LT100 in 20 gauge. I hunted in Mexico last year with a 20 gauge lighting for quail lead me to take a Silver Pigeon 12 Gauge to Arkansas for ducks. Know I am looking to go back to a double for all my hunting and can't keep thinking that with all of they new technology that I can go back to a 20 Gauge for everything. What do you all think, a Double 20 Gauge for Dove, Quail, Pheasant and Ducks. Thanks for all the help.

Getting back to the topic at hand, the finder of property acquires no rights in mislaid property, is entitled to possession of lost property against everyone except the true owner, but is entitled to keep abandoned property, which is defined as property found in a place where the true owner intended to leave it with no intention of returning to claim it.

Everything's always cheaper at amazon. A lot of times video games (brand new one's especially) will be between $1-$10 off. Older one's will be cheaper.
dj toronto

I do not expect the Copenhagen meeting to end in a clear agreement yet, but I do expect some progress to be made and that world leaders will take this very seriously.
polythene bags