The Saga of my .32 cal British Bulldog Pistol
This is a story of how fate taught me a lesson about greed… Back in about 1973 or ’74 when I lived in Salem, one Saturday morning in January my friend Bob called me and said that his mom had volunteered him to help a couple of old ladies move things out of their flooded basement. Bob wanted to know if I would like to help him. Always willing to help old ladies, I said “sure.” The two old ladies were sisters, and they lived in an ancient house in an old part of Salem. Their basement was a virtual treasure trove of antiques! I remember a beautiful old China hutch with the words “Women’s Suffrage – 1900” engraved (or punched) into the German Silver inlayed in the wood.
Bob and I began moving wet things up the stairs and out to the yard, where the two old sisters and several other ladies were sorting things out to dry. About half way through the morning, we came upon an old chest that was on the flooded floor. Curiosity overcame us, and we opened the chest to take a look inside. We lifted up a piece of folded linen to see two beautiful old revolvers! Bob had one in his hand and I had the other, as one of the old ladies came down into the basement. She said “do you boys like those old guns?” We both nodded yes, “these are really cool.” “Well” she said; “you just keep them for helping us, we sure don’t need them.” This is when my greed reared its head. The revolver in my hand had a bright nickel plated finish and it looked nicer than the revolver that Bob had in his hand. So as soon as the old lady said we could keep them, I blurted out to Bob: “OK, I’ll keep this one!”
My pistol was a five-shot .32 caliber revolver with the words “British Bulldog” stamped on top of the frame. These were the only markings it had. Bob’s gun was also a five shot .32 caliber revolver, but his was an old break-open Smith & Wesson (I can’t remember the model, but he still has it). Several days later we decided to take both revolvers to Anderson’s Sporting Goods in downtown Salem and have them appraised. The guy at the gun counter was quite an expert, and he started with Bob’s Smith & Wesson. He was pretty impressed with it, and he examined it for quite a while. Then he said that it was worth about $250, which in 1973 was quite a bit of money.
As he picked up my British Bulldog I began to get excited as he seemed to be quite interested in it too. He began by telling us about the history of this model. He said that when World War I broke out, the government of England feared that Germany would invade. The government wanted to arm every household in the entire country, and so they massed produced British Bulldogs by the millions and passed them out to the citizens. Then he wiggled the cylinder and said “see all of this play; this isn’t from wear, they were like that when they were brand new.” My heart kind of fell until he said “I have a friend who collects these.” But then he went on: “My friend goes to gun shows, garage sales and estate sales, and he waits until he has about fifty of them. Then he welds them together to form the legs and framework of a coffee table. Then he lays a bunch of them out flat for the table top, and pours clear resin over them. They make a beautiful table.” Then as a final blow, he added that my British Bulldog was worth $2.50 to $3.00!
While we were at the sporting goods store, we bought some ammo, which was surprising that they still stocked this obsolete cartridge. We went shooting the next weekend, and I learned that my British Bulldog would shoot a “group” of about two feet (from a rest) at 20 feet! Good thing for the Brits that Germany never invaded in WW I; those British Bulldogs would have been more effective as clubs than firearms! Bob still hasn’t let me live this one down, especially after how I jumped to claim the British Bulldog. I ended up giving it to a girlfriend for her to keep in her apartment for protection (at least it made her think she was protected). Someday, I want to buy one of those British Bulldog coffee tables!
[ 08-20-2003, 08:03 PM: Message edited by: Waterfish ]
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