Names on guns

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KY DAN

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So as I get ready to sell a few guns to support my quest for a Springfield armory m1a I have taken extensive thought to cull out my small collection of firearms. In this thought experiment I have purposely examined to what purpose the article may provide.In doing so I discovered a little gem I received as a Christmas present when I was 14, a WW2 Colt Comando 38 spl with original grips which possessed a inscription in cursive I failed to pay attention too. On the right side of the frame the name Howard Whitner or Whitney, Star#5685 , C or G. P.D. I know it would probably be impossible to learn who this person was or how this gun came to be at top guns in madisonville ky all those years ago. Just wanted to know if anyone else has had this same experience.
 
Closest I have come is a set of initials on a third-hand rifle. Ordinarily I would not accept a rifle with someone else’s initials on it, but the rifle was from a friend. I removed them, as the rifle was not quite mine while they were present.

However, the pistol you have has provenance that serves as a link to the past. I’d try hard to find what happened to that fella. There are several on the smith and wesson forum who have done this.
 
It'd be pretty cool to know what PD it was and when they were referring to star #s rather than badge #s
Maybe from down the highway at the Clarksville PD?

Todd.
 
I have a Civil War musket with the owner's first two initials and last name carved in the stock. I've always dreamed of finding this person's descendants and seeing if they wanted it. I put some very half-hearted effort into looking at soldier lists......but nothing serious.
 
I have a '57 Chiefs Special with "MASS ST POLICE" stamped on the backstrap. When I bought it, there was an oversize grip that covered the stamp, so I didn't know it was there. Went to put period-correct grips on it, and there it was. Doesn't change its value or shootability, but I thought it was kinda cool. I live in AZ, so that little guy has done some traveling!
 
I have my dad's old Charter Arms Undercover revolver, made in 1966 (same year in which I was born.) He didn't buy it new, and I don't know when he did, but it had to have been sometime between 1969 and 1985. It has some initials scratched into the flat portion of the crane assembly. I think it also has the last two digits of a year (73?) there, too, but I'm not at home as I type this, so I can't say for sure. My dad had passed before I came into this gun, so I don't know if he knew what these markings were for.
 
So as I get ready to sell a few guns to support my quest for a Springfield armory m1a I have taken extensive thought to cull out my small collection of firearms. In this thought experiment I have purposely examined to what purpose the article may provide.In doing so I discovered a little gem I received as a Christmas present when I was 14, a WW2 Colt Comando 38 spl with original grips which possessed a inscription in cursive I failed to pay attention too. On the right side of the frame the name Howard Whitner or Whitney, Star#5685 , C or G. P.D. I know it would probably be impossible to learn who this person was or how this gun came to be at top guns in madisonville ky all those years ago. Just wanted to know if anyone else has had this same experience.
Take a picture of it, sometimes a good lens can pick up more than we can see clearly with our eyes.

And when you finish that, be sure to post it here. lol I'm sure more than just me would like to see the gun.
 
Hi neighbor! I recall Top Guns favorably. I was young last time I went. Colt Commando 38... please tell me your not planning to sell it.
I did not plan on it, yet I have not shot it since 2009 so it could end up on the sale part of the site.
 
Thanks for posting the question and great pictures! If you know someone who is a geneaologist and is a member of one the major on-line genealogy data bases, he/she should be able to run the name for you. There will probably be more than one hit on the name, but with the C. [or G. looks like C to me] P.D. that will narrow down his location to cities beginning with that letter. Then get the approx. date of the serial number on the Colt. With that date, the information from the genealogical search and the first letter of the city of residence, you might be able to find something of the pedigree of you pistol. Let us know what you discover! Thanks again.
 
Just a few notes for anyone taking pictures of things like the guns here. We shoot pictures of all the used merchandise we have in the pawn shop so that our website and all of the mirrored sites have actual images, warts and all. Don't want to sell something online and ship it and have the customer think we're being dishonest because the pictures were stock images.

1. You don't need an expensive camera to take good pictures as long as you can hook it up to a basic computer for editing.
2. Going to gimp.org will let you download a simple free picture editing program.
3 Putting your subject on a clear stand about 3" or so off of the paper will make the shadows much less defined and easier to remove for a cleaner look.

I swiped one of the OP's pics and did a minute of gimping the picture. While I couldn't remove the shadow without a lot of tedious retouching because it wasn't shot on a stand, I did get it cleaned up easily.
This is similar to the stands I use for everything from guns to knives, anything tabletop size.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/3-x-3-x-3-...hash=item2cecccb734:m:mz8gBnHRQpDnF_xuS5TpB1w

Here's the OP's redone picture, done with gimp and about 2 minutes of retouching.
76651719_708346446319527_8958333642287874048_n.jpg
 
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When dad distributed his excess firearms among the family I ended up with this 22 revolver with insanely ugly black rubber grips. With hubby's promise to make new ones for me I remove them and found a piece of paper with the names of a man and woman, a small town in Ohio and the numbers 1938. I put the paper aside until dad and my grandmother visited and showed it to him. He got pretty insistent I look up the name…

Long story short it turned out that the gentleman in question was one of those killed in the Normandy invasion. The woman was still living and my grandmother "suggested" I try to contact her. That one small piece of paper allowed me to find the back story on what I had always considered a cheap pistol. The antique is still used with it's ugly rubber grips and it is given a place of honor in the cabinet for what it meant to a couple of sixteen-year-old children back in 1938.

I would strongly suggest a little time on Google with the name on your engraving. You might discover that revolver is far more valuable than you realize.
 
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I've heard of guns like that but never had one. Closest that I've come is just a last name written inside of a Nazi marked holster for a Walther P-38, ( common German WW2 handgun) that one of my late uncles got from another G.I. in Germany shortly after the German surrender in May, 1945. Recently googled it and there's a big German industrial company with that name but other than that I have no idea about a connection. My uncle didn't even have a P-38 to put in it but he used it to put his newly acquired Luger into to bring it back to the states. IMG_9142.JPG IMG_9140.JPG
 
The gun may have been his issue gun, and presented to him when he retired, or another one presented to him in lieu of his issue gun.
 
So as I get ready to sell a few guns to support my quest for a Springfield armory m1a I have taken extensive thought to cull out my small collection of firearms. In this thought experiment I have purposely examined to what purpose the article may provide.In doing so I discovered a little gem I received as a Christmas present when I was 14, a WW2 Colt Comando 38 spl with original grips which possessed a inscription in cursive I failed to pay attention too. On the right side of the frame the name Howard Whitner or Whitney, Star#5685 , C or G. P.D. I know it would probably be impossible to learn who this person was or how this gun came to be at top guns in madisonville ky all those years ago. Just wanted to know if anyone else has had this same experience.

I wish I got a Christmas present like this when I was a kid!
 
So as I get ready to sell a few guns to support my quest for a Springfield armory m1a I have taken extensive thought to cull out my small collection of firearms. In this thought experiment I have purposely examined to what purpose the article may provide.In doing so I discovered a little gem I received as a Christmas present when I was 14, a WW2 Colt Comando 38 spl with original grips which possessed a inscription in cursive I failed to pay attention too. On the right side of the frame the name Howard Whitner or Whitney, Star#5685 , C or G. P.D. I know it would probably be impossible to learn who this person was or how this gun came to be at top guns in madisonville ky all those years ago. Just wanted to know if anyone else has had this same experience.
Experience with a personal engraving on a firearm? Yes. I've purchased WW2 bolts (on both sides) with hash marks. I've come across others with initials. If it was an heirloom, I might inquire. Other than that, it's just another battlefield rifle.
 
My brothers & I presented our father with a new 3rd Generation Colt SAA .45 for his 70th birthday in 1981.

I bought the gun on a closeout sale at an Austin discount department store for $325. Apparently the Colt had sat in its box gathering dust in their inventory for two years, since it was manufactured in 1979.

We had his WWII US Army serial# engraved on the backstrap. Dad was a huge fan of the old Gunsmoke TV show, so he was very tickled to receive it.

My oldest brother made a superb quality wood case for it from a walnut board salvaged from the 140 year old family farm in Missouri. He owns the unfired (since the factory) revolver and will pass it on to his son who is a retired Texas police officer.
 
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I went to a store that specialized in athletic trophies from Little League up to adult bowling, etc.
Had them do a presentation plaque for the walnut case too.

That’s if you want a simple number or name to be machine engraved.
 
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