mawkie
C&R Whisperer
-I love finding gems hidden away in places where they don't belong. In this case it was a small gun auction in south central PA where the majority of lots were sporting long arms. There were only 2-3 milsurps and only two of them weren't Bubba'd. A Turkish Mauser, which was of no interest to me, and what I drove 90 miles to see: a French Mle 1907/15 Berthier built by auto manuf. Delaunay Belleville. The auction listing had one dark, vague photo but luckily the description had "Delaunay Belleville military rifle". That was enough to get me to top off the new GTI and hit the road.
-The auction house was new to me so I called first to ensure they had an FFL and would take my check. Makes things quick and easy. Located in the middle of the countryside,what I call Daisyville, the parking lot was a sea of pickups which in my eyes was a good thing. Lots of camo clothing inside told me everyone was there for the sporting rifles and shotguns. Lucky for me the Berthier was in lot 4 so I didn't have to wait long. Perfect 'cause there wasn't anything else there I wanted to bid on. Get in and out quickly if possible.
-Gotta say that this bunch was probably the least social gang I've ever run across in decades of auctions. I got stink eye from the moment I entered the hall (which was an ancient roller skating rink in a previous life!). I'd like to think of myself as a friendly sort but this bunch didn't care much for a stranger in their midst. Fine then, I'm not here on a mission to make friends anyway!
-Went straight to the Berthier and it was very clean, with crisp DB marked stock cartouche and all matching numbers. The only down side was that it had a very tidy duffle bag cut under the middle band which didn't phase me as that could be easily fixed (and it has been already). DB only built Berthier rifles in 1916, 1917 and 1918. This was the 3rd I'd seen come to market in a decade and I bought one of those. So I only had the last sale from a couple of months ago to guide me on current value. That example was even nicer and hammered at a stunning $1700. So when the dust settled after 60 seconds I damned near fell over when I got it for sub $200. Never saw that coming! Guess I was right in my assessment of the situation.
-Quickly paid up and took care of the license stuff (damned glad I could use my 03 'cause they were already experiencing problems with the PICs system, bet it was a long day there after I left). Raced to the GTI before anyone could yell "thief!" and sped home, shocked at my good fortune.
-Delaunay Belleville was a luxury auto manufacturer who was the only French private contractor in WWI (Remington was the other private contractor building Berthiers, approx 7k overall). They built approx. 190 thousand Berthier Mle 1907-15 rifles (vs over 400K and 1.5 million for Chatellerault and St Etienne respectively). A decent number with the majority of them built in 1917, the same year this example was built. Can't explain why they seem so difficult to find.
-Got my eyes already set on another possible treasure, in Daisyville again. Don't know if lightning will strike twice, don't think I can be that lucky. But it'll be another adventure if nothing else. Besides, love driving the GTI in the countryside, makes it all the more enjoyable.
-The auction house was new to me so I called first to ensure they had an FFL and would take my check. Makes things quick and easy. Located in the middle of the countryside,what I call Daisyville, the parking lot was a sea of pickups which in my eyes was a good thing. Lots of camo clothing inside told me everyone was there for the sporting rifles and shotguns. Lucky for me the Berthier was in lot 4 so I didn't have to wait long. Perfect 'cause there wasn't anything else there I wanted to bid on. Get in and out quickly if possible.
-Gotta say that this bunch was probably the least social gang I've ever run across in decades of auctions. I got stink eye from the moment I entered the hall (which was an ancient roller skating rink in a previous life!). I'd like to think of myself as a friendly sort but this bunch didn't care much for a stranger in their midst. Fine then, I'm not here on a mission to make friends anyway!
-Went straight to the Berthier and it was very clean, with crisp DB marked stock cartouche and all matching numbers. The only down side was that it had a very tidy duffle bag cut under the middle band which didn't phase me as that could be easily fixed (and it has been already). DB only built Berthier rifles in 1916, 1917 and 1918. This was the 3rd I'd seen come to market in a decade and I bought one of those. So I only had the last sale from a couple of months ago to guide me on current value. That example was even nicer and hammered at a stunning $1700. So when the dust settled after 60 seconds I damned near fell over when I got it for sub $200. Never saw that coming! Guess I was right in my assessment of the situation.
-Quickly paid up and took care of the license stuff (damned glad I could use my 03 'cause they were already experiencing problems with the PICs system, bet it was a long day there after I left). Raced to the GTI before anyone could yell "thief!" and sped home, shocked at my good fortune.
-Delaunay Belleville was a luxury auto manufacturer who was the only French private contractor in WWI (Remington was the other private contractor building Berthiers, approx 7k overall). They built approx. 190 thousand Berthier Mle 1907-15 rifles (vs over 400K and 1.5 million for Chatellerault and St Etienne respectively). A decent number with the majority of them built in 1917, the same year this example was built. Can't explain why they seem so difficult to find.
-Got my eyes already set on another possible treasure, in Daisyville again. Don't know if lightning will strike twice, don't think I can be that lucky. But it'll be another adventure if nothing else. Besides, love driving the GTI in the countryside, makes it all the more enjoyable.