IF THIS GUN COULD TALK!
BY
GEORGE BAKER

Every firearms collector at one time or other has made the statement: "If this ol' gun could talk, I wonder what it could tell me." Well the same was true for me. I purchased a fine Colt's Thompson Submachine Gun serial number 8780 in January of this year. My first thoughts were how beautiful this Thompson looked. I think the condition on this Thompson is 98 % or better. However, then I wondered just where and who had owned this treasure before me.

So I started at both ends of the known history and worked to close the gaps in-between. First, I contacted the gentleman I bought the Thompson from and asked for a copy of his original transfer to locate the next owner. Secondly, I contacted Tracie Hill and with his help, I learned the date of manufacture and used him as a source of telephone numbers and advise as my trek began.

So listed below is all of the previous owners of my Thompson.

The history of serial number 8780, Model of 1921 AC, Colt's Thompson Submachine Gun is as follows:

The gun was delivered to Auto-Ordnance by Colt's between December 12 and December 17,1921. The Thompson was then purchased by the Sidney, Ohio Police Department in 1930. The Sidney Police registered the Thompson on October 18, 1934, as required by the Federal government by the passage of the National Firearms Act (see the paperwork below).

Serial number 8780 remained in the service of the Sidney Police until September 7, 1979, when the gun was bought/traded to a dealer named Irv Kahn. Irv then transferred the Thompson from his dealer's corporation to his private ownership on November 6, 1979. Irv Kahn was very polite and helped me a lot with all of the original Sidney Police Departments paperwork which he still had copies of after all of these years. I owe Irv a lot of thanks!

Irv enjoyed the ownership of serial number 8780 until November 7, 1983, when he sold the gun to another dealer by the name of Larry A. King. Mr. King then sold the gun to another dealer, Ron Kovar sometime between 1983 and 1989. Mr. Kovar sold the gun to a dealer in Minnesota, named Don Wagenknecht.

Mr. Wagenknecht took possession of the Thompson for its real buyer who was Alan Westphal. Mr. Westphal's transfer went through on April 9, 1990. Mr. Westphal then sold the Thompson to me January 15, 2002.

I am now the third private owner of serial number 8780. It took some time to track down the history, but it was well worth the work.