Ithaca 1911's

[Sewer Rat]

My Great Uncle served in WW2 running tanks all over Europe with Patton, attained the rank of Capt and got a chest full of medals. When he passed 25 some odd years ago, his trophies were donated to the Ft Drum War Museum in Watertown NY. I was in the process of obtaining my NYS pistol permit at the time and couldn't recieve them... big time bummer.

Anyhoohaw, Ft Drum finally found them and took some great pictures of them for me... his Ithaca service 1911 and a Luger P08, still in great condition. Photobucket is giving me fits, otherwise I would post the pics.

Does anyone know if a person can repurchase after such a donation?

Would love to have Hutch's guns back in the family.

 

[Boom Boom]

No need for third-party photo sites. You can attach photos directly to your post using "Advanced" mode.

 

[Bob A]

Talk to the boss at Ft Drum. It's not uncommon for museums to deaccession items. Face to face might be your best bet.

 

[Sewer Rat]

Thanks Guys...

 

[Sewer Rat]

Other side

 

[Sewer Rat]

His Luger Trophy

 

[Sewer Rat]

He also had a pair of binoculars (which one of the cousins has at thier camp on the St Lawrence River) and a chest full of medals.

One day when I was 11 or so, and into WW2 big time (reading Dad's old books from the late 40s early 50s on WW2), Hutch showed me his goodies.... his medals, his uniform, his handguns.... just wish I or his kids had recorded some of his old funny stories... he never spoke directly about the war, just nonbattle events that happened between he and his men.

 

[Machodoc]

Talk to the boss at Ft Drum. It's not uncommon for museums to deaccession items. Face to face might be your best bet.

Yep. Find out who the curator of firearms is there and make the point that you are a family member who was too young to be given the firearms at the time.

Depending on what the museum has in their collection (how many duplicates), and other factors such as storage space, whether the firearms are being displayed, how much they need funding, etc., they might consider selling the firearms to you. Yes, I said selling. It would be extremely unusual for a museum to just give something like that away unless they are getting something in return that they need more.

I'm sympathetic with your situation and desires, but you need to be realistic about this going in. Those materials were given to the museum, and they are now the museum's property. They have no obligation to return the materials unless you can clearly prove that they were placed on loan, and that you are the next of kin. Even then, you'd probably have to go to court ... which is why very few reputable museums take things on loan these days, unless it's for a special exhibit over a fixed time period.

The facts that it took them awhile to find the firearms, and that they were willing to do so, are points in your favor. They seem to be sympathetic, too, and it sounds like the firearms were stored. There's a chance that they might decide that a generous purchase on your part, to go toward their operating expenses, would be more in the the long-term interests of their operation than another couple of guns in storage. Good luck!