First Gun Show In History?

[sgstandard]

A photo from a very early gun show.....perhaps the first in history? Not much different than today - Except collar tabs were sold by weight. I think we may have a prospective buyer..................

[sgstandard]

1st Gun Show

Wait.............better take a closer look.......there were fakers back then, even, I've heard.

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1st Gun Show

Last, but not least.........the little beauty from the UK. The poor, little waif arrived a bit worn and pip-less. Not to worry - a quick trip to the local "Pips Are Us" is just what the doctor ordered. I call her "Cinderella". PS: IMO, the pre 1938/1939 Sturmfuhrer rank tabs are the most aesthetically pleasing of all SA ranks.

[BobI]

In the old day the infamous Johanes Flock used to sell original "stuff". This include bushels of EKII that he would weigh and sell by the weight!
Strange but true
Bob

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Show

Cool!! - Back in the day, Sunny's Surplus in York, Pa. had a huge wooden barrel filled with WWII patches - all original. Those were the days when you went into a surplus store and came out with an original WWII web belt, canteen, and a bayonet. Nowadays, many surplus stores sell tennis socks and crap made in China.

[Tom B]

When I was a kid there was a war surplus/gun/junk shop in Minneapolis that sold original every thing US surplus and a LOT of German vet bring back stuff. He had a shopping cart filled with Lugars & p-38's..."your choice" $25.00 ! First time I went there was in 1952...GREAT time to collect !!!!!!! Tom

[Erich B.]

Is that Charlie Snyder on the right?
Erich

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Photo

No, that's an old photo of CG in his younger years.

[David Fettes]

No, that's an old photo of CG in his younger years.

It cant be, I though CG was shorter then that!!

Anyway nice tabs, I was tempted myself when Ewan first showed them to me. Nice score.

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Tabs

You're right - what was I thinking?????
I cannibalized an SA tab I never liked that much to use the pips for the blue Sturmfuhrer tab - it looks better in person. I usually don't monkey around with tabs, but the Sturmfuhrer tab was definitely worth restoring. Of course, there's always the chance that the tab could have originally had gold pips - no way to know. Black tab is circa 1931/1932 from Gausturme Wurttemberg if my book is correct.