The Sukalle-Minar arrived yesterday. There was a bit of comedy over at my FFL dealer's shop. When I arrived to pick up the gun, Ben looked gloomy and said "You're not going to be happy." (I had specifically asked him to be especially careful not to lose the piece of paper describing the rifle, believed to be signed by Jack O'Connor.)
Photo 25 Ben said the paper was missing. He had not unpacked the rifle from the bubble wrap, but he had looked everywhere in the cardboard box and the plastic gun case used for shipment. Ben had even looked under the foam rubber on both sides of the case. When I dissected away the tape and bubble wrap, still no paper turned up.
Ben grabbed up the rifle, threw open the bolt, and looked disappointed again. No paper.
"Look in the trap." I suggested. He looked puzzled, and I explained: "Under the pistol grip." The slot on that pistol grip cap is tiny, and you actually can't get a fingernail into it. Ben produced a pocketknife and pried it open.
Inside was was a tiny white object. It was the missing paper, folded many times into a little ball. It was clear that this was where the paper was found by the Arizona gun dealers who auctioned the gun. It was just a torn off half of a page from a very old note pad with the information and signature hastily scrawled on the reverse side of it. You had only to look at it to see that the paper was very old and had to be an authentic statement of provenance deliberately kept with the gun by a previous owner.
