John Anderson Guncraft 1874 Gatling Gun Consigned at Lock Stock and Barrel Investments
Taking Stock #29: John Anderson Guncraft 1874 Gatling Gun Consigned at Lock Stock and Barrel Investments
What is art? What is beauty? Does form follow function?
These are questions that are asked in any college course on art. Well, we at Lock Stock and Barrel Investments have our own ideas at what constitutes beauty. It can be in the pleasing aesthetic of a hand-fitted Mannlicher stock, the charcoal bluing on a Colt, the graceful lines of a Luger P-08 or even the brutal functionality of a WWII-era Liberator pistol.
But all of this pales a bit before the masterpiece gracing the showroom floor at our Simi Valley headquarters. Behold the hand-crafted Gatling Gun, made by John Anderson of Anderson Guncraft.
This is the real deal; a fully functional .45-70 Gatling gun. Its maximum rate of fire is determined only by how quickly as you can turn the crank. Look at the finely polished brass and steel, the wood tripod, the elegantly lethal beauty of this thing. It has excited the historical imagination of everyone who works at, has come in to, or even driven by, the shop. How would Custer have fared, had he kept his Gatlings in his supply train? How would they have influenced history at the Little Big Horn? Imagine shattering the Spanish ranks with Teddy Roosevelt at San Juan ill, or turning the Zulu tide at the Battle of Ulundi! This will be the greatest conversation starter in the history of living rooms!
Surprisingly few Gatling Guns were ever manufactured; and most of the survivors have ended up in museums. But starting from only drawings, but with an aviation engineer’s keen eye and dedication to his craft, John Anderson is still (pardon the pun) cranking these things out today. They take around 1,000 hours a piece to build; this is clearly a labor of love, and every glorious inch of this weapon shows it. There is currently a waiting list for an Anderson Gatling gun, and we have an unfired one, with the original shipping crate.
Rembrandt? DaVinci? I’d just as soon have an Anderson Gatling in my living room. With the rapid rate of inflation engendered by the current administration, dollars will become less valuable, but worthwhile investments that they purchase will retain that value.
This is the kind of thing which will only appreciate as the years roll by; rare as hen’s teeth, and beautifully executed, this is a stellar example of the kind of merchandise you can only find at Lock stock and Barrel Investments.
In closing, as we helped our consignor unload the gun from his car, we finally understood why Custer left his behind…
By Mark Romano
