Dear AR forum readers:

We recently celebrated Dr. Don Heath's prowess with a wheel-gun (he is truly the "Dirty Harry" of Africa!)

I would like to sing Don's praises for a different reason, however, and that is as a conservationist and a most generous donor to a very worthy cause.

As some of you know, I chair a non-profit organization, Curriculum Safari Earth (CSE), which supports education in sustainable conservation in Africa. We have done quite a lot of work in Zimbabwe, and are strong supporters of the Rifa Conservation Education Camp and, most recently, the Zambezi Society's Wilderness Training Programme (http://www.cse2000.org).

Several months ago, Don contacted me with an offer to donate two antique and historic firearms in order to help raise funds for the Zambezi Society's program at Rifa. Carried by Don's great grandfather in the Pioneer Column led by F. C. Selous, these two guns were protection during the long overland trek from Cape Town to Mashonaland in 1890. They were later used in the Matabele War of 1893 and the first half of the Shona Rebellion (1896).

According to Don, both guns were manufactured in 1876. The rifle is a standard military issue Martini in .45 Boxer Henry. The revolver is a Webley No. 5 New Army Model revolver (SA/DA side-gate loading) in .476 and 45 Long Colt. Very rare. The rifle is very cool, The revolver is, quite frankly, spectacular.

One interesting footnote is that Don's great grandfather was an American, from Georgia. He was hired by Cecil John Rhodes as a mining engineer but returned to the U.S. for a few years in 1897 before finally coming back to settle in Rhodesia.

As custodian of Don's gift to CSE, it is my job to maximize the dollar-value of this donation and apply it to the intended causes. The best way to do this, of course, is by auctioning to the highest bidder. The guns have been appraised on a preliminary basis by a reputable authority here in the U.S. I am, however, collecting all of the documentation needed for an historical provenance (to be including with the guns) and the final appraised value has not yet been provided.

During our discussions about this donation, Dr. Heath suggested to me that it might be of interest to the members of AR to offer the guns up here for a silent auction. I'm not sure if this would even be possible, but please post your comments here to let me know. If you would like to know further details about the firearms or their histories, I will post all of the information I have as it comes to me. You may also direct questions to Dirty Harry....er....Don Heath, if it concerns a point that I have not covered in my documentation

Many thanks again to Don Heath for his generosity!

Sincerely,

Ken

P.S. Please forgive the cross-post. I thought there would be a couple of discussion groups interested. Posted on: African Big Game Hunting, Big Bores and Gun Collecting