Matt, you sure brought a good one into Canada when you bought and imported this engraved M-55. I am so pleased that a friend of mine in Canada now owns one of my friend Eldon's choice Winchesters.
I was very privileged to have known Eldon and Edith Owens for about the last 10 years of Eldon's life. I met Eldon at the very first Winchester Collectors Show in Erie, PA, and we soon became good friends. The Owens's extended a standing invitation to our family to visit them whenever we passed through New Hampshire on our way to visit relatives in New Brunswick.
Eldon's gun room/vault was huge, and it was a major privilege iindeed to be given the opportunity to spend hours with him there, discussing and handling his Winchesters. If he saw that I was really interested in a certain showpiece (and yours was probably one of them), he would insist that I take it out of its illuminated glass showcase and inspect it thoroughly. On a couple of occasions, he even had me disassemble a rifle or two to check for originality.
Matt, Eldon once told me a similar story as to what you have recorded. He related how had given a well known firearms authority and author, the OK to bring a very advanced major Winchester collector to his place. This collector was from a well known, wealthy, corporate family, and money was no object. In telling the story to me, Eldon said, "As he looked over my collection, he acted and talked as though he was on a shopping trip. He would say things like, 'I could use this one in my collection! Oh,... this one and this one would be OK,... and I will take this one!'" Well, let me tell you, this didn't go over very well with Eldon Owens as he very rarely sold anything, and being from the old school, he didn't tolerate poor manners. He soon let the arrogant, rich collector know that he couldn't afford to buy any of them, and that his visit was coming to an abrupt end. Eldon was a very quiet, soft spoken gentleman, but his emotions were raised even in the re-telling of the incident to me. He ended by saying, "I tell you James, that guy will never be invited back here!"
I was at Eldon's two-day auction on Oct. 4th and 5th, 2004. Your rifle, Matt, was Lot No. 615, and the estimated price was $30,000-$50,000, and the hammer fell at $55,000. With the Buyer's Premium, the price came to $63,250.
In 1989 this rifle was pictured (both sides) in full page color in R.L. Wilson's "Winchester Engraving 2nd Ed." on page 290. At that time it was in the collection of Felix A. Bedlan. Eldon would be pleased to know that an outstanding Canadian gentleman and friend of mine is now its caretaker.
The Winchester Enthusiast,
James
