Chapter 199: The Antique Gun
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Freddy’s tone was provoking and full of sarcasm.
Li Du smiled and returned a cutting retort: "We know how to handle goods with value, ‘cos we’re used to that. But if it’s trash, we’ll be at a loss—you see, we’re not used to handling trash."
With more than a dozen houses in his hands, Freddy was so confident that he felt nothing could put him down. He scoffed at Li Du’s words and laughed. "Okay, what are the valuables you reaped from this auction? Or, what did you come here for?
"They’re here for sightseeing," Bart added. "They’re not here for the auction, otherwise, why would they stop with only one successful bid?"
Bart had gotten five houses for himself.
Li Du replied, "You’re right, we’re here for sightseeing. We’ve brought good cameras with us, and they contain lots of interesting pictures."
Bart was triggered by the mention of cameras and pictures. "You promised to delete my pictures! You f*cking piece of sh—"
"Shut up! Don’t overestimate yourself. We’re here to take pictures of the beautiful scenery, not to shoot some rubbish."
Bart calmed down after hearing that; he could not stand the idea of the pictures being leaked out to the public.
Freddy spoke with his arms crossed. "Pals, enough of that sh*t. Come on, show us the valuables you got from your house."
They talked to one another while making their way to house 15.
Old house auctions were unlike storage unit auctions, the latter having a 24-hour timeline.
The storage unit companies needed their units cleaned out fast so that they could rent to another tenant, whereas real estate companies needed to spend more time on the architecture and design of whatever they wanted to build. So they were not in that much of a hurry to demolish the houses.
Back at house 15, Godzilla was moving some items onto the Iron Knight.
When he saw Li Du, Hans, and the group of treasure hunters, he took out the silver gun and walked toward the group with a straight face.
Seeing this, the treasure hunters almost broke out in cold sweat!
"D*mn, is this fellow a Terminator or what?" a treasure hunter asked.
Godzilla stopped before Li Du, and handed the gun to him. "Found this in a cabinet."
Hans snatched the gun over, and laughed loudly. "Ha! Pal, you’re spot on! This is a Terminator, alright! Winchester Model 1887 lever-action shotgun—it’s the Terminator’s gun!"
The treasure hunters started to chatter.
"Is that really the Winchester M1887?"
"It can’t be, that gun was made more than a hundred years ago!"
"The gun was discontinued for a long time. But look at the outer layer, why is it silver?"
"If it’s really the Winchester M1887, they’re in luck!"
The Winchester M1887 was one of the first successful lever-action repeating shotguns produced by Winchester Repeating Arms Company, who claimed to be a "lever-action firearms company."
However, the gun’s famous designer, John Browning, subsequently suggested that a pump-action forend would be much more appropriate for a repeating shotgun, and that lever-action shotguns might be obsolete in future.
When the smokeless powder shotshells came into popularity in the later part of the 19th century, the M1887 was not strong enough to handle the early smokeless powder shotshells. And so a redesign resulted in the stronger Winchester Model 1901.
Shotgun shells at that time used black powder as a propellant, and so the M1887 shotgun was designed and chambered for less powerful black powder shotshells as well.
There was another model, the M1897, which together with the M1901 became the most popular shotgun for a period of time in the American market. Although the M1897 was superseded by the M1912, it could still be found today in regular use.
The Winchester M1887 started production in 1887 and stopped production in 1901. There were a total of sixty thousand guns produced during that time period.
Although sixty thousand appeared to be a lot, in big countries like the United States— especially after more than a century after the gun was produced—it would be extremely rare to find such an old gun.
Any firearm collector in the States would be thrilled to add an M1887 to their collection.
The treasure hunters could not contain their curiosity, for a century-old gun had appeared right in front of them. They crowded around Hans and asked:
"Is that the real deal? Which factory did it come from?"
"This looks so well-kept that it seems like a knock-off. Australia, China, and Italy have copied and produced M1887—you’re sure this is not an imitation?"
"Why’s it silver? I’ve never seen a gun like this. It seems like a toy to me!"
Hans spun the bolt of the gun and it made a snap sound.
Hearing this sound, the treasure hunters knew that it was not a toy gun—that was the loading method of a lever-action gun.
Hans’s eager expression grew more excited as he stroked and inspected the gun carefully.
"This is absolutely the M1887! It’s an original. Look at this, it says "Winchester-Model-(M)-5525"—the serial number, which means this is the 5,525th gun produced!"
"D*mn, this thing is valuable," an envious treasure hunter said. "If this antique gun still works, I bet it could fetch a price of at least 20,000 dollars!"
Hans disagreed. "Twenty thousand dollars? Pals, look at this silver coating, and look at the patterns too—I bet this is a custom-made shotgun!"
Li Du was confident that this century-old gun was definitely an original; otherwise the little bug would not have been attracted to it. But as for whether it was custom-made, he couldn’t tell.
A treasure hunter squeezed his way through, and asked, "Could I have a look at the insignia?"
Hans handed the gun over and introduced the man to Li Du. "Tim Troy—he knows a lot about the aristocracies in Europe and America—"
"Rose thorns encircling a flying pelican," Troy exclaimed, "and there’s a shield in front of the pelican. There’s something on the shield. Ah! It’s a rapier! Okay, I know who the gun belonged to!"
"Who was that?" The treasure hunters waited eagerly for the answer.
Troy replied, "The Boston Rudolf family, descendants of an aristocrat who was active during the 19th and early 20th centuries."
Troy shook his head and continued, "However, there is little, to no news, of the family now. During World War II, they were allies with the Japanese. After we declared war on the Japanese, many of their businesses went bankrupt."
Hans was overjoyed. "Without a doubt, this gun is definitely precious!"
Troy was certainly jealous. "Of course! D*mn, I studied so much about aristocratic cultures and their history, but I’ve never encountered something like this! God is unfair!"
Freddy was green with envy. He couldn’t believe his eyes. "This type of gun is found in this kind of house? Impossible! Who would leave something like this behind?!"
Li Du smiled. "Who knows? God blesses the good. Pal, don’t be such a bully, be kind."
"What a close shave! Fortunately I offered 4,000 dollars!" Hans said in a thankful tone. "If I hadn’t, this unit wouldn’t be ours!"
Freddy was so full of jealousy that he felt his heart was crying out in pain—the house had almost belonged to him!