Many of you will recall a couple of months ago that I wrote here about a signed Schuetzen style rifle I picked up for a pittance at an auction. The rifle was in very nice condition, except for the missing palm rest and a ram rod, and I posted here looking for any possible info about the maker F. Jeannet. Someone posted that Le Locle was a town in Switzerland near the French border. As it turned out the town still exists as a fairly large community now which also has a unique history museum which can be seen on this web site
www.lesmoulins.ch .
After I found the museum there was an exchange of emails and photographs with the curator of the museum. It turns out, she replied, that there are local history, tax and census records which listed F. Jeannet as living and working there as a gun maker at least during 1850 when we suspected the rifle had been made. As a matter of fact, she wrote, the museum owned one of the pistols signed by Jeannet.
Now the fun part: After some thought I decided that the rifle would be more appreciated and exposed to the public while adding to local color in that museum next to that pistol than it ever would sitting in my basement in the corner. So I offered the museum that if they would pay for the shipping I would gift the rifle to them to add to the collection. They quickly agreed and I set about trying to find someone who would transport the rifle to Switzerland. UPS, DHL and FedEx were a waste of time. Whenever you say rifle they shut down their brains and there's no use trying to explain that the item is a 150 year old antique. Finally I sent a note to the Smithsonian Museum and got a reply that there was a company called Masterpiece LLC” whose sole reason for being in business is to ship works of art around the world. Shipping problem solved. After a few emails and some coordination with a custom agent in Geneva I built a crate, the rifle was picked up and delivered to Denver for a flight to Switzerland.
I am now a friend for life of the museum and the town. I'm sure that if I were ever to go there I would be feted graciously and offered a free meal or two. But, the story doesn't end here.
I got an e-mail this morning from Caroline, the lady with whom I have been corresponding and who is the curator of the museum. She was speaking to how beautiful the rifle was and how solidly built the crate turned out. Then she related that she was very familiar with the museum's current public display but there was an attic into which she had never ventured. When she finally got in she found a whole rack of rifles the museum never knew they owned – all by F Jeannet, and all of which will go on display with the rifle I gave then as soon as she could get a cabinet built.
So the story here is I feel great about doing something gracious and the rifle, after 150 years has finally made it back home where it was built.
