Man buys locked trunk, finds two Civil War pistols

Offer in thousands comes from collector; were Texas Ranger's
Thursday, December 06, 2007By MIKE MARSHALLTimes Staff Writer mike.marshall@htimes.com
FAYETTEVILLE, Tenn. - It took two days, a 40-mile drive and about 20 seconds of drilling for Dave Shade to open the trunk.

But as soon as he opened it, he knew he'd found the treasure he'd been hoping for when he made the starting bids at the estate sale on the morning of Oct. 7, 2006.

In the right tray of the trunk, partially hidden by some clothing, were two pistols.
 
Immediately, he saw some initials engraved just above the handle of one of the guns: "T.R.''

At first, Shade thought he had found two guns with a connection to Teddy Roosevelt and the Spanish-American War.

Bit by bit, though, Shade discovered more clues and pieced together the tale of the guns.

Soon, the story circulated among collectors: Both pistols were used by a cavalryman during the Civil War.

A collector in Texas has already offered him $50,000 for the guns. Another has estimated the guns' worth at about $75,000.

Shade wonders if they're worth more than that.

"How does this happen in Lincoln County, Tenn., or anywhere else?'' Shade said. "The lesson here is to buy as many locked trunks as you can.''

                                            kenb   

I enjoy going to auctions. I used to buy boxes of assorted items that were thrown together hoping to find that golden egg. Still looking.....Steve

This is interesting, thanks.  A good example of treasure in unconventional places.  I find it surprising, though, that more auction houses do not employ metal detectors in cases like this, or even xrays.   Some boxes are metal lined I'm sure, but I do recall some examples of metal detecting/xrays being used in cases like this involving cached records, time capsules, locked boxes.  Any thoughts?

b

Great story and a sweet find for that guy!! I can;t understand why anyone would not want to open a locked trunk and see what is inside, never mind auctioning it without knowing what is in it. To me a locked trunk or box is screaming...open me , open me...  His gain and the sellers loss I guess.

I heard about somebody buying a desk with one of the drawers locked at an auction once and when they got home and got it opened, there was a twenty dollar gold piece in it.

   Auction houses play the averages. Storage bins do the same. People's hopes and dreams force the bidding up on untouched and unsearched lots. If you sell them all that way you will make more money over time than cherry picking the great items and eating the others. That said you will occasionally find a dealer or auction house that searches everything and researches everything and then lies and claims the loser lots are unsearched. If an auctioneeer spends several thousand hours looking to find one $30,000 item they have averaged less than minimum wage. Some may not even do that well. Some would say that a great item like that is once in a lifetime.
   Personally i check and research everything i find and drag home before selling it. The only things i don't research are things that I keep for myself or that I keep to use. siegfried schlagrule