Collectors picked them, every one.

Oh, when will they ever learn?

Apologies to Pete Seeger for that, but this 1926 Stokes catalog was too cool to not share with all you Rafficarians out there.

In W. Stokes Kirk’s 1926 catalog of military equipment, they’re offering 1915 Colt Vickers machine guns, operational on tripods, for $150-; a princely sum at the time, in 2022 dollars that’s about $2,500. Don’t bother getting your checkbooks out, there’s no time machines available.

We tend to think of Frances Bannerman & Sons as the only prominent military surplus seller in the post- American Civil War period through WWI, but Kirk’s started in the late 1870s and was prominent on the American West Coast all through the period. This was their 18^th catalog.

Please note how the guns were live for 30-06 ball, or blank use, and Kirk’s made a special black powder cartridge that produced “Lots of fire and smoke for motion pictures and plenty of noise for celebrations.”

Kirk’s was the source for many of the Colt Model of 1915 Vickers machine guns on the West Coast and certainly in the movie industry. I had 30 1934 registered fully transferable Colt Vickers guns out of California over the years, mostly from Hollywood.

Note: Back in the good old days of Class 3, I wrote columns about machine guns, the most prominent being “Raffica” in Machine Gun News. “Raffica” was the full auto or burst-fire marking on my beloved Beretta Modello 12 9x19mm submachine gun. So, I adopted the moniker for the column name, and a disturbing number of readers began referring to themselves as “Rafficarians.” I took to awarding them Certificates of RKI; the Reasonably Knowledgeable Individual. Heady days, with relatively cheap machine guns and piles of cheap parts and beaucoup surplus ammo. Piling up the brass was the competition, and as you can see from this 1926 catalog, it’s a long-time American tradition!

Austrian World War-I era cast brass letter opener. Probably a commercial “trench art” item made from discarded brass shell casings. The blade is in the form of a sword complete with fuller (a groove extending horizontally along the length of the blade) and is approximately 6 1/2 inches long. At the base of the blade “1914-15” is imprinted. The handle consists of an image of an Austrian soldier firing the Schwarzlose M07/12 water-cooled machine gun. Overall length of the letter opener is approximately 10 1/4 inches. 

Indian Army Sirmoor Rifles machine gun section other ranks die-stamped blackened cap badge. Ram’s head over crossed Vickers. Four lugs to rear. 

South African Military (Army) Gymnasium (All Arms School) arm flash (1950–1967). Blue enamel background with gold enamel insignia and red enamel flame. The Military Gymnasium provided arms training to the Air Force as denoted by the wings on each side. The Navy is denoted by the anchor and the Army to the center by the Vickers machine gun. 

Arm patch for the 6th Russian Machine Gun unit of the Czech Legion. Green wool patch with red border with sewn on metal “6” and metal machine gun. Two inverted yellow stripes; each has a red border on them indicating a Lt. Colonel level officer. Patch is 3 1/2 inches long by 2 1/4 inches wide. Czechs captured by the Russians and who did not want to fight for the Austro-Hungarians during World War I were formed into the Czech Legion to fight Germany on the Russian side with the promise of an independent Czechoslovakia after the War. That promise was broken when the Bolsheviks won the Russian Revolution. The Czech Legion then fought against the Communists. 

Enamel and gold cufflinks for the Machine Gun Corps Old Comrades’ Association. 

German reservist’s porcelain pipe bowl named to Karl Reinhardt on the front, with high relief acorns and acorn leaves along the sides. Central front image shows three men manning a Maxim MG08 water-cooled machine gun on a sled mount with the city of Cöln (Cologne) in the background. The rear has an image of two men enjoying their beer at a table with tidings above. Below the scene denotes the Machine Gun Company, Infantry Regiment No. 65, 1912, Cöln. The top has a hinged-spiked Pickelhaube helmet covering the tobacco bowl. 

The slogan displayed on the front of the 1929 Commercial Price List and Catalog, Superior means for the protection of Lives and Property, is indicative of another marketing attempt by Auto-Ordnance Corporation (AOC) to sell the Thompson gun. One of their first catchphrases, The Most Effective Portable Fire Arm In Existence, had run its course. The old stand-by maxim, On The Side Of Law And Order, was still in use but AOC must have felt the need for something new in 1929 – eight years after the introduction of the Thompson submachine gun.

The 1929 catalog, as it has come to be known by collectors, was double the size of previous catalogs. It was filled with a lot of pictures and interesting information on the Thompson gun – all in all a very nice product. Most 1929 catalogs measure 12” x 9” but there is some slight variation in size with different printings, i.e., the E.E. Richardson (a well known AOC salesman) marked 1929 catalog.

This is a very desirable item for Thompson paper collectors, one that is hard to find and usually expensive when found. It is not uncommon for original 1929 catalogs in excellent condition to sell for over $500. The survival rate for the 1929 catalog does not appear to be anywhere near that of the 1936 Nassau Street catalog.

As with most things Thompson if there are not enough originals to satisfy demand, reproduction items will soon enter the market place. This is exactly what happened with the 1929 catalog. Reproductions sold years ago from Ray Riling Arms and Frontier Press are well known by Thompson enthusiasts. While both of these catalogs are professionally marked as reproductions by the printer, it is very easy for a paper collector to determine by the quality of print and pictures that these two reproduction catalogs are not original. However, these reproductions do fill a void in most collections and allow for reading without the possibility of damaging an original.

Such was the universe for the 1929 catalog – until recently. Last year, what appeared to be original 1929 AOC catalogs unexpectedly hit the market. The picture quality was excellent and it was obvious the catalog had some age. Touted as original catalogs by sellers, many of whom had probably never seen an original 1929 catalog, the price began to rise.

This author made a purchase and was very pleased when the package first arrived. However, upon careful inspection there was something about this catalog that seemed amiss. There were definite signs of aging around the corners and the staples had started to rust – but the color was just not right. The cover on an original 1929 catalog is more of a brownish color; the cover on these “new” 1929 catalogs is more of an off-white color. Fortunately, Small Arms Review writer David Albert lives only a short distance away. David is the co-author of the book, Thompson Manuals, Catalogs and Other Paper Items. He has a very extensive Thompson paper collection, including an original 1929 catalog.

A side by side comparison soon illustrated that this “new” 1929 catalog was not quite the quality of an original. To be certain, it was a piece of excellent work though the color difference of the cover was quite pronounced when the documents were laid side by side. In addition, the background color or shading (on the cover) is much more pronounced on the original catalog. Unfortunately, many Thompson paper collectors do not have ready access to a known original. And pictures from the best reference books allow only a preliminary comparison of the cover.

An investigation into where these “new” 1929 catalogs originated from proved interesting but was not definitive. Several sellers were contacted and a central theme in all stories soon developed: Atlanta, Georgia. Every story included reference to an estate sale and how the catalogs were stored in a “wooden crate” or “wooden box” and never released for sale. There were similarities to all the stories and the sellers were definitely not experts in the Thompson world. They were in the business of buying and re-selling items for a profit. All spoke freely and did not appear to be withholding information. The estate sale in one story involved a decedent in Florida who previously lived in upstate New York. Aside from the catalogs and a lot of sawdust, the wooden box purportedly contained several Thompson bolts, barrels and two receivers. The receivers were dispatched to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico and all the other parts sold. The wooden box featured a Thompson bullet logo and was later sold to a collector in the Atlanta area. A guesstimate from all the sellers as to the number of catalogs found was somewhere around 200.

The time had come to involve some professionals in the investigation who work with paper everyday; one a book binder specializing in the repair of older books and one a printer.

The book binder said the catalog was definitely older. It was not printed last week. He pointed out the rusty staples and places on the paper around the edges that were indicative of the natural aging process. He did not think it was printed in the 1920’s. However, he believed the catalog was at least 20 years old.

As any good investigator will tell you it is better to be lucky than good. I got very lucky with the printer because he is a letterpress printer that still prints with letterpress – not something commonly found today. After examining the 1929 catalog in question for 10 to 15 minutes, he stated without reservation it was a reproduction. He went on to say the original 1929 catalog was most likely printed with letterpress. He pointed out the way in which the catalog is laid out with all the inside borders is very indicative of using print blocks with the old style letterpress; a very common method of printing in the twenties.

Looking closely at the pictures in the catalog, the printer believed most if not all the pictures were second generation. He pointed out how the printing in the title, “Thompson Guns,” was a little light in places. He said the amount of ink it took to make the title completely black and deep in the original catalog would have had a negative effect on the Thompson gun on the cover picture (in the reprint), turning it very dark. When the cover was copied for reprinting, the title lost some of its definition and this is plainly visible in the reprinted cover. (The difference in the depth of the color in the title on the cover page was evident during the examination David and I performed, but we did not know how to quantify our suspicions; now we know.) The printer was positive this “new” 1929 catalog was printed using the more modern offset printing. He agreed the pictures in this newly found 1929 catalog were very clear and said whoever printed it most likely copied it from an original 1929 catalog. The reason a lot of modern reproduction documents are so bad is a 3rd generation (or more) document is used in the reproduction process. The catalog does show signs of natural aging. He said it could have been white paper when new and faded to the current off-white color but this is really just speculation on his part. He believes it to be an older catalog, most likely printed in the 1950s. He had no reservation saying it was 50 to 60 years old.

During the ensuing investigation several more catalogs were examined and procured. One catalog had an obvious printing defect on the cover; others had defects on the inside pages. If contemplating the purchase of one of these newer 1929 catalogs, be sure and examine all pages.

The original 1929 catalog as released by AOC does not reference the Model of 1928 Thompson, the U.S. Navy Model. This was soon corrected with a one page document titled, “(Insert for 1929 Catalog),” which showcased this very popular Thompson variation. Original 1929 catalogs on the market today can be found with or without this insert. There is no evidence whoever reprinted this newer 1929 catalog also reprinted this insert page, and they may not have known it existed.

The quest for all things Thompson sometimes will yield a new discovery and that is what makes every search worthwhile. An original 1929 Commercial Price List and Catalog is a great addition to any paper collection. Unfortunately, the number of surviving copies appears to be low and the prices high. This high quality 1929 catalog reprint will make a great addition to a collection and may actually become a collectable in its own right someday. But don’t be fooled into paying a high price right now. Or believing it to be an original!