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Another interesting little sidebar story is about an antique arms dealer by the name of CW Slagel out of AZ....CW is a big man who is hard to miss, rumor has it that he is a Medal of Honor receipant, was high up in the DEA and had a contract on his life by one of the Columbian Drug Cartels. One night CW awoke to find 6 assassins in his house who he promptly dispatched to their God with a knife..

However I digress, at one of Little John Gangles antique gun auctions I saw CW drop a cool 250K on a pair of Philidelphia Derringers made by John Deringer in the 1860's. Several years late I asked CW about those guns and this is the story he related to me. He bought those guns with a woman partner, they offered them around for about $325K with no takers. CW then did his homework and found that the guns were sold by the son of Secratary of State under Lincoln, Willaim Seward in 1920. with that provenance CW had no trouble selling the pair of pistols for $425K. The upshot was that after the sale those same people who refused to purchase them at 325K were upset that they were not offered them after the information about them surfaced.

To this day I still kick myself about not buying a #1 1877 LR Sharps rifle with an asking price of 20K from CW. I probably could have bought that gun for 18K as CW paid 16K at a Butterfields Auction. But that is past tense.