Bert H. said
Bill,

R.L. Wilson was never a “collector”.  The man was a thief, and his criminal activities finally caught up with him (long after getting away with plundering the Colt Musuem). Many years ago he used to be a regular at the Big Reno Gun show and I would occasionally bump into him… I always felt like a I needed a hot shower immediately afterwards!  It was a good day for all when he was arrested and put away for several years as a result of his nefarious activities!!

Bert

  

My sentiments as well & not just from a LE background. A lot of folks & institutions were hoodwinked & fleeced by Wilson. 

clarence said

Zebulon said

I am an admirer of the late, irascable John T. Amber, a man of considerable taste and a fierce defender of the King’s English and historical accuracy, to whom all firearm collectors owe a considerable debt of gratitude for his work bringing the (former) Gun Digest to us as a serious resource. However, as we know, Maximum John was a no-[kidding] collector once described as “an affable, steel trap”, who also delighted in getting his fellow collectors to pay full price and sometimes more (“I got the bastard!”.) 

GD was the means for getting much valuable historical research into print, the kind of limited-interest technical info that most gun mags wouldn’t consider, but was not suitable for book-length publication, even if a publisher could be found.  I never failed to buy a copy while he lived & for many yrs afterwards.  Best of all were the GD “Treasuries” which collected the best historical articles out of several previous annual issues into one volume, but there were only 2 or 3 of those ever published.  How sad the decline under subsequent owners & idiot editors! 

Armax served somewhat the same purpose, but had too small a circulation to get good research into the hands of many who might be interested. 

I never knew Amber sold guns out of his collection, & with his world-wide interests, can’t imagine him even having time to involve himself personally in doing so.

  

Clarence,  From what I’ve read, JTA did not like selling guns (except during his time as manager of Marshall Field’s gun department, and,even then, if somebody brought an interesting specimen to trade, he was not above intercepting it for his own.)  Agree that the Treasuries were the best of the best.  I once had a complete set of GDs, until I quit buying them for the same reason you probably did.  Last year, I got one of the best bargains to be had – for less than twenty bucks–  a complete, searchable set of DVD copies of the entire GD collection, from the first issue through 2019 (well beyond anything of much interest.) 

As with some other aspects of our hobby, I have no interest in (or funds for) acquiring finely engraved pieces but I do love to see and appreciate the art. Amber was personally responsible for celebrating and circulating the work of America’s best engravers, my favorite being the late E. C. Prudhomme of Shreveport. Amber’s successor editor of GD was not so inclined, unfortunately, although he carried the digest fairly well otherwise. It went downhill from there. By all accounts, Amber was a real stickler to write for but he brought up several good young writers. 

As for the rest of you fellows, I wasn’t sure how the membership viewed Wilson’s memory and feared to tread too hard on him.  However, I am all too familiar with his type, albeit in other fields, and have no illusions about the damage he did.  For a time in my practice, it fell to me to represent both some embezzlers, on the one hand, and businesses and institutions that had been embezzled (by different embezzlers), on the other hand. A common theme I observed was some embezzlers often get started on their crimes because they had, for some reason, become associated and developed friendships with rich folks and tried too hard to emulate their lifestyles.  But then, there are the born Music Men. (I will spare you the story of when our small firm took up the defense of several members of a band of gypsies that had come to town like a horde of locusts…) 

That is why I can look with awe and pleasure at the collections of the Big Hitter All Stars and bask in their reflected glory, while realizing I would never have the nerve or trust enough in my own judgment to buy a mint, putatively all-original, First Model Henry in its miraculously preserved, serialized, oak-and-leather, baize-lined, case.  The fear of later finding the remnant of “Assembled in Korea” is too great for the likes of me. 

clarence said

Zebulon said

Last year, I got one of the best bargains to be had – for less than twenty bucks–  a complete, searchable set of DVD copies of the entire GD collection, from the first issue through 2019 (well beyond anything of much interest.) 

Glad to hear this info is still available, though better yet would be such a set containing only the historical articles, like the Treasuries; the “new products” parts of the books are disposable.  Last time I moved I had great trouble giving a away a stack of them 2 ft high.

Next look for a copy of History Channel’s “Tales of the Gun,” which featured Larry as one of the presenters–not only talking about the evolution of guns, but shooting them; one of the pieces he demonstrated was a matchlock. 

 

  

Sometimes, in the course of doing a piece of research, the “new products” pages of the old digest can be useful to help determine when a product was at least announced. You could count on some serious reviews in the next annual volume. But now the digest and its ill-conceived offspring, the magazine, are little more than a catalog of new products. When Krause Publications gave it up, the quality really deteriorated. 

Harry-

I wish I could have made it to the RIA this past weekend but my “children” were misbehaving and my tech advisors were somehow unavailable…and I suck at electronics/automation troubleshooting. I would have liked to see who stepped up for some of the more spectacular pieces but quite honestly the vast majority of the offerings were well beyond my reach and I probably would have gotten bored in short order. I must admit, those Gatling guns helped me dream of straying into the ranks of Colt collectors in a big way! Kevin and his dad have been generous supporters of TGCA and I really wanted to help welcome them to Texas but when one of my “children” needs something I generally do whatever it takes to make it happen.

Mike