Ian Fleming Pistol
Mr Henderson
Posts: 16MI6 Agent
I have a model 1900 Hopkins and Allen .38 S&W that was bought at the Ian Fleming estate sale in 1967 in Florida, apparently it was bought at Orocabeza, in St. Mary's Parish, Jamaica by Fleming from one of the original radio operators who were part of the group (Aura=windy/air, cabeza=head) which were called the "airheads" at Oracabeza to monitor radio and submarine signals in Jamaica. He bought this pistol from the same man he had purchased the donkey racing track that would later become "Goldeneye" his beach house where many of the stories were written.
There were two letters of authenticity written for this pistol, but they were "loaned" to a museum in Indiana which insists that I come up with a value for the piece to sell it to them, as they will not let me have the letters to prove that it is from the estate. Many items were refused by the Ian Fleming Library at Indiana University because they were not seen as "proper" artifacts, but this pistol is in a caliber and size that was often seen in pictures with Ian Fleming, and I have been looking for a picture of him with this pistol, since I have been told he acquired a number of .38 S&W pistols to have pictures of himself taken with.
I really don't care to sell this pistol, unless I can turn it over to someone who will work to get the proper documentation OR a picture of Ian Fleming with the pistol somewhere in the records. The pistol is in VERY good condition, and resembles many of the pistols seen in the introduction scenes in the early Bond films.
I can get a picture if necessary, but I would appreciate more a picture or location where a number of Ian Fleming's book cover portraits are found, as this is a fairly easy pistol to recognize, according to the people I have talked to, .38 S&W in this size went by the boatload to England with lend/lease to be distributed to radiomen and home guard units, and few of them are even left.
The reason the museum will NOT let me have the letters or copies is because this early a model did not have serial numbers, and although I was a friend of the gentleman who purchased these at the Auction, they claim that such a letter could be sold with ANY pistol and that no absolute proof of this being the exact same pistol is possible, because no museum record exists of it as an archived artifact. All of which is true, but very aggravating, as I was offered these items from the family, but now that the buyer is deceased, the museum claims they have made archival records for the documents and they belong to the museum, so they "kindly" offered to buy the pistol from me if I can determine a value with a picture which can be verified with "their" letters.
hahaha, just shows how much interest there is in something that has a real history, rather than a storybook one......how absurd
There were two letters of authenticity written for this pistol, but they were "loaned" to a museum in Indiana which insists that I come up with a value for the piece to sell it to them, as they will not let me have the letters to prove that it is from the estate. Many items were refused by the Ian Fleming Library at Indiana University because they were not seen as "proper" artifacts, but this pistol is in a caliber and size that was often seen in pictures with Ian Fleming, and I have been looking for a picture of him with this pistol, since I have been told he acquired a number of .38 S&W pistols to have pictures of himself taken with.
I really don't care to sell this pistol, unless I can turn it over to someone who will work to get the proper documentation OR a picture of Ian Fleming with the pistol somewhere in the records. The pistol is in VERY good condition, and resembles many of the pistols seen in the introduction scenes in the early Bond films.
I can get a picture if necessary, but I would appreciate more a picture or location where a number of Ian Fleming's book cover portraits are found, as this is a fairly easy pistol to recognize, according to the people I have talked to, .38 S&W in this size went by the boatload to England with lend/lease to be distributed to radiomen and home guard units, and few of them are even left.
The reason the museum will NOT let me have the letters or copies is because this early a model did not have serial numbers, and although I was a friend of the gentleman who purchased these at the Auction, they claim that such a letter could be sold with ANY pistol and that no absolute proof of this being the exact same pistol is possible, because no museum record exists of it as an archived artifact. All of which is true, but very aggravating, as I was offered these items from the family, but now that the buyer is deceased, the museum claims they have made archival records for the documents and they belong to the museum, so they "kindly" offered to buy the pistol from me if I can determine a value with a picture which can be verified with "their" letters.
hahaha, just shows how much interest there is in something that has a real history, rather than a storybook one......how absurd