Sometimes you find odd things when you’re cleaning out your basement. This afternoon my wife was removing some old lumber that was store up in the rafters of our basement. While removing the lumber she found an old manila envelope with the logo and name of a probably long defunct or absorbed saw company, The Allison Division, ACCO. The envelope was covered with dirt and dust and tied up with some old cord. It was heavy. Saw blades?
We took the envelope and set it on the table on our back porch. You never can tell what’s going to crawl out of an old box or envelope. I cut the cord with the Swiss Army knife that’s a permanent part of me. In the envelope were a pair of old, plain, .38 revolvers.
My wife and I looked at each other. We didn’t want to keep them and we knew we couldn’t just throw them away. So we called the police. Twenty minutes later a pair of officers showed up (nice young guys). They inspected them, pronounced them antiques and unuseable, and, with some difficulty, opened them. They were, fortunately, not loaded, although they had been used with some regularity in their day.
The officers recorded some information about the firearms on a form they had brought with them, took my name and date of birth, and left with the old guns which were destined for a furnace somewhere.
Plain simply means undecorated. Without further description as to make, model and serial number I have no way of determining how much value and how much history you have allowed to be destroyed. Next time, donate them to the LaPorte [IN] County Museum.
The hilarity of your situation is undermined by the reality of why two identical .38’s would be hidden away in your attic. Of course, with no prior knowledge relating to the expense and valued worth of firearms, it seems uncharateristic to me that someone would leave a matching set of pistols “hap-hazardly” in an area that would respectedly stay unafffected for many years. Though I agree, that one could speculate that the reason the pistols went un-noticed may have been that they were placed in an uncommon and irregular abode. Therefore greatly decreasing their noticeability, and subsequently allowing them to remain unbothered since their placement (accidental or purposeful). In such a position as yours, I would follow up with the officers who reported to your call, and ask them if they found any related felonies that were incurred with, or involved either of those handguns. Still, the story remains delightfully entertaining, and it’s a fantastic “potboiler” to have in your memoirs.
Perhaps, you should put thought into scavenging throughout the rest of your homestead?