Got my mitts on some of Bill Ruger's personal effects removed from his desk in Southport.
First coolest item is a lighter. Jack Knode was one of WBR's pals and the Chief Engineer at Savage. This lighter may have been the inspiration for Ruger's similar offering as seen in my avatar, or Jack may have been inspired to create his own after receiving one of Ruger's. This lighter is pictured in the collage on page 20 of Ruger and His Guns.
Next first coolest item is one of the rare SR&Co NYSE IPO stock certificate mementos set in Lucite. I had seen pictures of these before, and there is a picture of one (presumably this one) in Ruger and His Guns. This one being WBR's personal one, with his name on the box. Bad pic, I'll have to work on taking a better one.
Tiffany business cards from WBR:
Here is Bill's NH driver's license, that's one way to get his autograph!
A pin that may not have made it into production, this one has a stone (I'm presuming it is a diamond chip until someone proves me wrong) set in as the eagle's eye.
This looks like a paper weight, appears hand-made with what looks like a wood eagle and possibly an aluminum base.
Here is a die that must have been used for stamping the eagle logo on something. Not a printer's block as those were soft copper and this one looks to be hard steel.
This is a variation on the 30 year patch, this being embroidered and attached to a clear plastic pocket clasp, I envision WBR wearing this on his lapel every day in 1979.
Unknown purpose eagle ornament, about 5/16" thick with two threaded holes in the base - maybe a prototype for the hood ornament on the Ruger Sports Tourer automobile?
Belt buckles with Bill's name cast into back:
Various cartridges and brass shotgun shells. The .256 Win Mag case has NO headstamp, so may be an early demo round.
Rounding out the A-T in A-T-F, here are some personalized matchbooks, a bronze lion ashtray, a full pack of 1975-dated Soviet cigarettes, and a single shot bottle of cognac.
An Anson boxed keychain knife engraved to WBR. Anson did quite a lot of the 1950's and early 1960's Ruger mementos.
Stutz brass lock and keychain. Stutz made a car called the "Bearcat" that gave WBR the inspiration for naming his little .22 revolver.
More on the car theme, here's Bill's Bentley driver's club card (probably would have gotten him into all the hot spot clubs with that!). Also an honorary chiefs-of-police association card.
Another autograph, this one on his CT CCW permit. 30 pounds lighter than on the NH DL.
The above 3 items along with some seating arrangement slips from some event that read like a who's who of the firearms industry and a board of directors ribbon
Republican Presidential Task Force medallion from the Reagan administration.
South London Rifle Club medallion
NYSE badge for what must have been the day of the IPO (which I did not realize was on my 30th birthday until I saw this). Also a U.S Naval War College badge.
1959 NRA convention badge.
WBR notepad with a couple badges.
More badges, this SAAMI badge being different from the one above.
Sealed envelope from Sid Bell with three pieces inside, likely some sort of jewelry. Holding it up to the light, I can make out three shapes, one of which is clearly a moose. Interestingly, I have (from a prior acquisition) a Ruger auto-pistol tie tack that was sent from WBR back to Sid Bell with a letter thanking Sid for the items he sent to WBR, so it would be wild if these items completed that circle!
Now if the sealed envelope from Sid Bell is not enough of a mystery, we also have this curious piece. It is an ivory "thing" in a wood stand. On closer inspection, it turns out that the top unscrews from the ivory part revealing a compartment. In there is a small paper package tied with string with numbers written in what appears to be a fountain point pen. I am SO tempted to open that! So far I have not given in to temptation!
There are other items that I didn't take pictures of. There are some tools, including a Yankee push screwdriver and bits, I don't know if it is newer or older than the screwdrivers made by the defunct Ruger Corp. prior to SR&Co. There are some of the common Zippo items (knife, tape measure, keychain) with the Ruger logo and these may also be the ones pictured in Ruger and His Guns in various collages. Other stuff like a coffee cup, a toggle switch, a plastic rhino, a Ruffed Grouse Society pin, a few political pins, an unknown rifle butt plate, a bottle opener, etc.
Then one more mystery is a roll of developed photographic negatives. I can see buildings, a row of oil wells, a street scene with what looks like an early 1950's car on the road, a guy in a rocking chair, etc. I may have to either have those printed or figure out how to use the slide scanning strip in the lid of my scanner. Looks like it might be from a long-ago road trip to someplace like Texas where oil wells grow more prolifically than they do in Connecticut.
First coolest item is a lighter. Jack Knode was one of WBR's pals and the Chief Engineer at Savage. This lighter may have been the inspiration for Ruger's similar offering as seen in my avatar, or Jack may have been inspired to create his own after receiving one of Ruger's. This lighter is pictured in the collage on page 20 of Ruger and His Guns.
Next first coolest item is one of the rare SR&Co NYSE IPO stock certificate mementos set in Lucite. I had seen pictures of these before, and there is a picture of one (presumably this one) in Ruger and His Guns. This one being WBR's personal one, with his name on the box. Bad pic, I'll have to work on taking a better one.
Tiffany business cards from WBR:
Here is Bill's NH driver's license, that's one way to get his autograph!
A pin that may not have made it into production, this one has a stone (I'm presuming it is a diamond chip until someone proves me wrong) set in as the eagle's eye.
This looks like a paper weight, appears hand-made with what looks like a wood eagle and possibly an aluminum base.
Here is a die that must have been used for stamping the eagle logo on something. Not a printer's block as those were soft copper and this one looks to be hard steel.
This is a variation on the 30 year patch, this being embroidered and attached to a clear plastic pocket clasp, I envision WBR wearing this on his lapel every day in 1979.
Unknown purpose eagle ornament, about 5/16" thick with two threaded holes in the base - maybe a prototype for the hood ornament on the Ruger Sports Tourer automobile?
Belt buckles with Bill's name cast into back:
Various cartridges and brass shotgun shells. The .256 Win Mag case has NO headstamp, so may be an early demo round.
Rounding out the A-T in A-T-F, here are some personalized matchbooks, a bronze lion ashtray, a full pack of 1975-dated Soviet cigarettes, and a single shot bottle of cognac.
An Anson boxed keychain knife engraved to WBR. Anson did quite a lot of the 1950's and early 1960's Ruger mementos.
Stutz brass lock and keychain. Stutz made a car called the "Bearcat" that gave WBR the inspiration for naming his little .22 revolver.
More on the car theme, here's Bill's Bentley driver's club card (probably would have gotten him into all the hot spot clubs with that!). Also an honorary chiefs-of-police association card.
Another autograph, this one on his CT CCW permit. 30 pounds lighter than on the NH DL.
The above 3 items along with some seating arrangement slips from some event that read like a who's who of the firearms industry and a board of directors ribbon
Republican Presidential Task Force medallion from the Reagan administration.
South London Rifle Club medallion
NYSE badge for what must have been the day of the IPO (which I did not realize was on my 30th birthday until I saw this). Also a U.S Naval War College badge.
1959 NRA convention badge.
WBR notepad with a couple badges.
More badges, this SAAMI badge being different from the one above.
Sealed envelope from Sid Bell with three pieces inside, likely some sort of jewelry. Holding it up to the light, I can make out three shapes, one of which is clearly a moose. Interestingly, I have (from a prior acquisition) a Ruger auto-pistol tie tack that was sent from WBR back to Sid Bell with a letter thanking Sid for the items he sent to WBR, so it would be wild if these items completed that circle!
Now if the sealed envelope from Sid Bell is not enough of a mystery, we also have this curious piece. It is an ivory "thing" in a wood stand. On closer inspection, it turns out that the top unscrews from the ivory part revealing a compartment. In there is a small paper package tied with string with numbers written in what appears to be a fountain point pen. I am SO tempted to open that! So far I have not given in to temptation!
There are other items that I didn't take pictures of. There are some tools, including a Yankee push screwdriver and bits, I don't know if it is newer or older than the screwdrivers made by the defunct Ruger Corp. prior to SR&Co. There are some of the common Zippo items (knife, tape measure, keychain) with the Ruger logo and these may also be the ones pictured in Ruger and His Guns in various collages. Other stuff like a coffee cup, a toggle switch, a plastic rhino, a Ruffed Grouse Society pin, a few political pins, an unknown rifle butt plate, a bottle opener, etc.
Then one more mystery is a roll of developed photographic negatives. I can see buildings, a row of oil wells, a street scene with what looks like an early 1950's car on the road, a guy in a rocking chair, etc. I may have to either have those printed or figure out how to use the slide scanning strip in the lid of my scanner. Looks like it might be from a long-ago road trip to someplace like Texas where oil wells grow more prolifically than they do in Connecticut.