[Milsurplus] Museums!

[Kenneth G. Gordon]

On 26 May 2018 at 23:16, Glenn Little WB4UIV wrote:

> I have a Type 97 sniper rifle that my father brought back from Japan at the end of WWII.
> It is an unusual rifle as it has a mismatched part that was used to originally build the rifle. It was, 
> by serial number, one of the last of these rifles produced in WWII.
> All of the serial numbers match on the rifle.
> The inspector was in a hurry and was right handed.
> I tried to donate the rifle to the NRA museum and they will not take it under my terms.
> My terms were the rifle is not to be sold, but, to be displayed or stored for later display.
> The rifle is worth too much to be a 'wall hanger'  in a private home.
> I tried to donate the rifle to a local museum under the same conditions.
> They will not even talk about.
> I find out it is written in the organization of museums that artifacts will be sold or traded to 
> maintain the museum.
> The rifle and scope (with a non matching serial number) was appraised at over $5000.00
> 
> What does one do with a piece of history like this?

Exactly.

I own a set of bagpipes which I got through my brother from an old soldier who died some 
time ago in Butte, Montana.

He picked them up off a battle-field in WWI, probably in France..

The pipes have been authenticated and the story is true.

One of the projecting mounts has been, very obviously, "cut" by a bullet, probably the bullet 
that injured or killed the piper.

They are "mounted" in real elephant ivory and are made of ebony. They are over 100 years 
old and they sound wonderful. Their tone is spectacular.

According to an expert on them, they are worth well over $5000.00....yet, in the United 
States, I can't sell them, and am in danger of getting in trouble by even transporting them. I 
dare not transport them into Canada, as the U.S. Border folks will confiscate them at the 
border, just as they did not too long ago to a set of ivory-mounted bagpipes some young 
piper wanted to bring into the U.S. from Canada to a highland games and piping contest.

Since I got rheumatoid arthritis after a bad car accident in 1996, I can no longer play the 
bagpipes as the RA has destroyed my fingers and hands....and a lot of the rest of my body 
too for that matter.

So, what do I do with them? None of my kids want to bother with them, no museum would 
want them, they are much too precious to be simply burnt. I can no longer play them. 

The elephant ivory on them is from an elephant which died at LEAST 100 years ago, yet the 
damned liberal hippy sons-a-bitches who are presently in charge of the world would want to 
burn it, and the real ivory on the keys of my wife's ancient grand piano too while they are at 
it.

They can all go straight to hell.

I guess I'll have the pipes put into my coffin when they plant me, which won't be too far in 
the future.

Ken W7EKB


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