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Posted: 2/15/2006 12:58:32 AM EDT
I was leaving the tent and saw a blown up Newspaper article touting the "Real life Indiana Jones".




I read the article and couldnt help but turn and go in his booth. Here was this guy, with some of the cleaned up guns on display to hold and fondle.

He told of his story getting hooked up to go into Nepal and get the guns, iirc, 31 containers of long arms and cannons, 26 of those containers coming to the states (all the pre 1899) and the rest to England. At the time Nepal was on a shaky cease fire, and they kept renegotiating the deal over and over. A deal that started at 2M escalated to 5.5M USD. The history was amazing.

I guess he could tell I was totally enthralled by his story, as I held a Martini Henry. He gave me a copy of his book...




The book tells the story of how Cranmer started in the antique business and heard about this cache from others in the business and then spent the next 30 years fighting political instability and red tape trying to see it and then buy it.  They finally did manage to procure it and started packing in 2003, taking five months to clear out the old armory.  They found not only weapons that dated back through the Napoleonic wars but also more recent WW2 firearms including Enfield No.1 and No. 4 rifles and US made M3 grease guns.  Ninety seven percent of the weapons retrieved dated before 1898.  And they did not only find firearms.  All around the palace were artillery pieces, swords, Kukris fighting knives, bayonets and huge numbers of spare barrels, locks, musket balls and flints.  Cranmer also presents a history of Nepal and discusses the how the country ended up with this massive collection of weapons through the ages.



Here is another link to more articles on this guy and the guns.


Absolutely incredible. I couldnt help but want to share this with you guys.


Link Posted: 2/15/2006 1:02:29 AM EDT
[#1]
very cool, I must have missed it.  I didnt do a thorough walk thru this year.
Link Posted: 2/15/2006 1:11:18 AM EDT
[#2]
That is realy cool, thanks for sharing.
Link Posted: 2/15/2006 1:18:03 AM EDT
[#3]
There was a Discovery Channel special about that whole find, not too long ago.

Atlanta Cutlery is selling alot of the weapons from there, but hasn't even scratched the surface, IIRC.

I bought a Martini Henry from that collection.
Link Posted: 2/15/2006 1:24:28 AM EDT
[#4]
Very cool indeed, thanks for the story. Swingset mentioned Atlanta cutlery was selling items, what are they selling, and for what kind of prices? I'm going to do a search for them now, curiosity is getting me.(edit) They have the Martinis for sale, and some other cool stuff, worth looking at.
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