A friend of mine recently passed and his son invited me to the vault that contains the most complete collection of US military handguns in existence. Some of you may have seen it at the NRA museum where it was on display for a couple of years. These photos are not of the complete collection, just stuff that I found interesting.

The one photo that I missed was of a particular Simeon & North pistol that was the only one in the world known to exist.

The amount of work required just to keep everything waxed and dusted is phenomenal. My friend used to spend 6 hours every Sunday caring for these. His son can't maintain that, so he is going to sell them at a variety of auctions over the next few years. He can't sell it as a collection since very few people/organizations could afford to buy them as a group and selling them all at one time would flood the market and lower their value.

I would not have believed it possible for one man to have assembled such a comprehensive collection of rare firearms and related items in one lifetime.

What a shame they can’t be kept together.

Thanks for posting this. It’s simply amazing.

If upkeep and cleaning is the only reason, Seems like investing in some glass front cabinets would alleviate the need to sell them.