doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com L C Smiths and others ? Removed from Julias'

I was on the Julia auction today and quite a number of very high end L C Smiths featured in their catalog never made it to bid. Does anyone know why they were removed ?

The serial numbers of the LC Smith Deluxe Grade, the Monogram 16-bore, and the Grade 5E were found to match those listed for the same grade guns reported stolen in 1984; those guns were seized by the authorities on Friday prior to the auction. I don't have a clue as to the reasons certain other guns featured in the Julia's catalog were pulled from the auction.

Wow, I wonder if we will ever find out who the lucky collector was who got his stolen guns back. Sounds like a great story.

I had a Crown Grade and a Premier Skeet stolen in that time frame..But I aint that lucky, to ever see em again...

Bill, It is my understanding that these guns had been insured prior to the theft, that a claim was filed, and the claimant subsequently paid. Although I'm not an attorney; I would think the insurance company who paid the loss can now claim ownership of the guns. And yes, the events surrounding the theft and recovery of these guns will make a most intriguing story; but now is not the appropriate time to reveal the portions of the story that I know.

Just posted to the LC Smith Collectors site ....

If there are people who regularly read this forum who noticed that 3 "High Grade LC Smith's" were pulled from the Julia's auction yesterday ..... and wondered what happened .... here is the "Real Story" !!!

I personally had interest in one of these guns and had discussed it at length with Tom Archer many times leading up to the auction. Tom had in the past told me a story of just such a gun that Cliff White had shared with him years ago. Cliff had the opportunity to buy 5 guns in the early 80's and one gun stood out because of a hunter depicted in gold on one of the locks. Cliff had passed because of the possibility/probability of the guns having been stolen due to something that had happened in his, then recent history. Only 3 of the 5 guns were LC Smith's ....... all high grade guns.

Last week, Tom called Cliff to jog his memory about the long forgotten story and when asked Cliff remembered the event, as well as the guns and assured Tom he had the serial numbers somewhere in his old records ..... Tom suggested I contact Cliff and see if in fact these serial numbers matched the gun/guns in the auction ...... THEY DID !!!!!

I struggled with this new found information throughout the night, last Wednesday and decided that on Thursday morning, as not only an interested party in at least one of the guns, but as a sitting member of the BOD's it was my duty to inform Julia's of this possibility and determine if the integrity of ownership of these fine guns had been corrected in the nearly three decades of their absence from the double gun community.

IT HAD NOT .... and these 3 fine LC Smith's were still in the "Stolen Firearms Registry" !!!!

So the next time you think your club is "just a hobby fraternity" ...... remember that we as members can and will make a difference if we pay attention and put forth the effort. Theft and deception are not good for our hobby so we must always remain diligent !!!!

I would like to thank Tom Archer and Cliff White for their part and most of all Jim Julia for the professional manner in which he handled this unfortunate situation .... his company immediately contacted authorities and had the guns checked and once found to be stolen property, released them to local police for confiscation.

I know nothing of the current owner or consignor ..... but eventually someone was bound to be disappointed .... if the current owner was non complicit ... I am extremely sorry for their misfortune, if not then so be it !!!

Be Safe All, Jimmy Baker

I, like Tom have no idea why at least one other high grade LC Smith was removed from the auction ??

Be Safe All, Jimmy Baker

Of the higher end doubles, more than just the Smiths were removed . Maybe the owner was a collector with a little broader interest.

It would absolutely depend on the policy language and the language of the payment documents from the insurance company, just who would get to get the guns right now. I would suppose it conceivable that the owner who received an insurance payment for them back in the day would have a chance to "buy them back" (so to speak) from the insurance company and that the insurance company would want its money back (with interest, probably, insurance companies being what they are), but the existence of such a possibility would clearly depend on the policy language.

Right now, though, I suppose the best name for these guns is "Evidence" and that they are going to be residing in the evidence locker at the police station until all the people in the chain of title/provenance between now and their theft can be thoroughly interviewed by the police. Once this gets cleared up, it's time to return them to whomever. I just hope the police take decent care of them until then.

We do all of course recall the recent story of BoWhoop whose sale did take place. As I recall it Nash had settled with the insurance Co years ago & the Co was no longer interested in a refund.