Beauregard's LeMat

[cwtalker15]

The American Civil War Museum in Richmond has another LeMat (serial # 497) that also belonged to Beauregard.
It is inscribed with his name on the top of the barrel. Go to http://moconfederacy.pastperfectonline.com/webobject/C5FF3088-DDEF-4F74-8E2A-131971331601 and check it out.[/QUOT

Really the whole auction has some pretty amazing stuff... looks like several old, large and important collections are being sold. Quite interesting to just browse through the catalogs...
http://jamesdjulia.com/auction/391-spectacular-auction-of-quality-arms/?session=1
http://jamesdjulia.com/auction/391-spectacular-auction-of-quality-arms/?session=2

Here's an early and very rare LeMat prototype...
http://jamesdjulia.com/item/2218-391/
View attachment 93465

Here is a guy talking about this upcoming auction and has several of the different types of LeMats that are being auctioned later this month. Sit through the short, upfront commercial and then see some wonderful LeMats in great detail. It is worth the time!
Go to https://www.full30.com/video/7a91783c813bb926a093db6fe938133a

 

[James N.]

Poor Private - If you only knew how much history is locked away in museum warehouses! None of this "stuff" is available to the public either, nor will it ever be seen by the likes of us collectors and enthusiasts. I have some experience with museums and you would be appalled at what they really think of the bulk of items that they have been entrusted with. Quite often they see their warehouses and repositories as "burdens". Believe me when I tell you they have thousands of tons of artifacts which have been gathering dust for generations. If anyone had seen the old Gettysburg Museum which housed the Rosensteel Collection, and what is now on display in the "New" museum, it is enough to make you sick! The majority of what had been on display since 1912 is now boxed up and has been put in permanent storage. Today all you will see is a smattering of what used to be on display. Even the Rosensteel family has strongly expressed its displeasure over this. The first thing the Government did was to tear down the "old museum" so they couldn't be forced to reopen it. Why? Because they knew full well the public wasn't going to like the direction in which they were headed! I have yet to find one person, who was familiar with the old museum, to have any kind words for the new museum.

Today, I know of three museums which are currently, and very quietly, "deaccessioning" thousands upon thousands of items which were donated to them over the course of the past 150 years, in the good faith that they would be preserved by those museums. These museums have been doing this for the past three years and are using several private auction houses to disburse the material. And there it is....once again back into the hands dealers of collectors, who quite frankly are more apt to display the items.
J.

A big part of the problem is with the NPS wanting exhibits they can hustle as many bodies (and that's all they see them as) through in the least amount of time. Any really engaging exhibits would largely defeat this purpose. Any previous NPS mission to educate the public has mostly gone out the window, especially at popular locations like G'burg.

 

[Poor Private]

My son has a Lamatt, he bought it back in 2000 I believe. He paid a whooping 550 for it back then. I see the prices are now approaching a GRAND. It's a repro of course. He keeps it in pristine condition. Matter of fact it upstairs in our house, in his old bedroom. He very rarely takes it out and shoots because cleaning it is a bugger.

 

[James N.]

My son has a Lamatt, he bought it back in 2000 I believe. He paid a whooping 550 for it back then. I see the prices are now approaching a GRAND. It's a repro of course. He keeps it in pristine condition. Matter of fact it upstairs in our house, in his old bedroom. He very rarely takes it out and shoots because cleaning it is a bugger.

It appalls me that a REPRO would cost that much - but why wouldn't it, especially for a complex firearm like a LeMat? They're a very desirable item and the only way to really afford one would be to have a repro, so that no doubt drives the market value/cost!

 

[Ralph Heinz]

I'm lucky. One of my best friends ( a well-known collector and dealer) a few years ago showed me 8 LeMats including a LeMat carbine that he owned. He has thousands of firearms, several artillery pieces and a couple tanks. In 1995, he asked me to do an inventory of just the items he had for sale in his warehouses and it took me 8 days from early morning till late evening. I did not inventory items from his collection nor hundreds of WWI and WWII uniforms. You can bet I learned a lot in that time. One evening we took a break and he dug out original CW and IW uniforms just to look at. Right now he has a Confederate LeMat, serial 306 for sale on his web site and it is priced at $30,000. And no, I'm not in his league when it comes to collecting though I've been at it for 64 years and my collection is modest.

 

[Dutch Mudsill]

Just ran into an ad for a LeMat from an antique arms dealer in the $23,000 range without any famous or confederate associations, so its about 20 times the value of a repro. Might be a better deal than an 1842 musket. Repro and original 1842's are on a path to price parity.