June 22, 2009

The Politics of a Firearm

A new estate was consigned to us this week, collectibles, antique furniture and household goods. In the midst of the usual was a small group of military items, souvenirs from the departed owners past… medals, photos, plaques, swords and a rifle.

The rifle had my immediate interest as we are looking for more consignments to include in our August 15, 2009 firearm auction. This rifle looked rusty, the stock was scarred; a beat-up generally neglected relic. Yet, there was something curious about it.

The markings on the barrel and receiver reveal it is a German rifle, modeled after the 1898 Mauser, perhaps one of the most well know WWII military firearms. It was copied for military use by many countries and there were many versions built. The markings indicated this particular rifle was manufactured in 1937 and is commonly called a Karbiner 98 or K98. And that’s when it became really interesting.

So, now I have a German rifle made in 1937. This information meant that I needed to examine all the markings more closely. Sure enough, on the left side of the barrel, under the dirt and grime, engraved in fine detail was the eagle acceptance mark of the German Third Reich, a positive indicator that this was a Nazi World War II rifle.

The rifle now had some interesting provenance, not rare, not even very unusual, but certainly interesting. The best was yet to come.

The stock was scarred and scratched, dirty and dusty. I began cleaning and soon it was apparent there were words carved into the stock. Now, your imagination can immediately come up with many wild ideas of what this carving said….captured at Hitler’s bunker….found at a Normandy beach….. liberated in Paris….and many other events the carving could recall. The reality was not even in my furthest thoughts.

This old German rifle had been captured by a US soldier from a Viet Cong soldier during the Viet Nam War! Carved into the stock are the following words: “Gun, Binh-Chan” (Vietnam, northwest of HoChiMinh City) “Nov. 6 , Antler, War Zone 'D', LAG, Saigon, 67. TET 68"

Who knows what circuitous route brought this rifle to Viet Nam? Scenarios could include: Captured by the North Vietnamese from the French in Vietnam, who in turn had taken arms from the defeated Germans; Supplied by the Soviet Union, backers of the Viet Cong, the Russians having liberated firearms from WWII Germany.

The rifle will soon have a new owner. Whatever the circumstances were that brought it to our auction, the irony is not lost. Manufactured to defend a socialist dictators ideals, captured and used by a communist army, finally, liberated by a soldier of democracy.

Firearm Auction August 15th, 2009