**NEAR MYTHICAL EXTRAORDINARILY RARE COLT AR-15 MODEL 1 ORIGINAL SELECT FIRE TEST RIFLE KNOWN AS “THE COCONUT RIFLE”.

Revised: 9/8/2011

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: This firearm is classified as a fully transferable C&R.

**NEAR MYTHICAL EXTRAORDINARILY RARE COLT AR-15 MODEL 1 ORIGINAL SELECT FIRE TEST RIFLE KNOWN AS “THE COCONUT RIFLE”. SN 000106. Cal. 223. Extraordinary AR-15, the sixth one ever made by Colt with 20″ tapered rnd bbl and orig 3-pronged brush catcher flash hider. It has the typical tall AR-15 front sight with adjustable post & bayonet lug. Receiver is typical of standard production rifles with carrying handle mounted, windage adjustable, 2-position flip rear sight and serrated charging handle with integral lock, chrome plated bolt carrier and spring loaded dust cover. Magazine release is in the usual position on right side with bolt carrier lock release on left side. Left side of magazine well is marked with a large rampant Colt in a circle, “COLT / ARMALITE AR15 / PATENTS PENDING / CAL 223 / MODEL 01 / SERIAL 000106”. Mounted with mottled red composition 2-pc ventilated triangle forearm and solid buttstock with hollow pistol grip. Buttplate is of black composition material with ribbed face. Bottom of butt is mounted with a sling swivel stud with corresponding sling wire part of the front sight bracket and contains a Vietnam era nylon Nobukl adjustable sling. Also accompanied by an orig “waffle” stamped sheet stainless steel magazine. Base plate of magazine is marked “ARMALITE AR-15 / PATENTS PENDING / CAL. .223 / COLT’S PT. F.A. MFG. CO. INC. / HARTFORD, CONN. U.S.A”. Base plate of magazine has a small key slot used for dismounting the base plate. This rifle is one of the first twenty AR-15s built by Colt in 1959 and was the single rifle used in all demonstrations of the capabilities of the new Armalite design from Eugene Stoner. Accompanied by a Colt factory letter which states that this rifle was shipped to Cooper MacDonald Co. of Baltimore, MD on Feb. 17, 1960. The Cooper MacDonald Co. had been selected by Colt to market this new product and this rifle was therefore shipped to the company into the hands of Mr. William Mullen, the Vice-President of Cooper MacDonald. In a signed & notarized statement from consignor dated June 9, 2011, consignor states that he obtained possession of this rifle in March 1989 and on July 14 & 15, 1992 he and his wife traveled to Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, MD and had a lengthy appointment with Mr. Mullen, V.P. of Cooper MacDonald Co. Mr. Mullen stated that SN 106 is the rifle that made two trips around the world for demonstrations to various friendly governments. He stated that on July 4, 1960 this was the rifle that was used in the “Watermelon Demonstration”. Mr. Mullen stated that the demonstration took place on Mr. MacDonald’s farm which was an annual cookout & beer bust and that prior to the party Mr. MacDonald had told him to “bring the rifle – there will be some brass there”. Mr. Mullen stated that the brass turned out to be Gen. Curtis E. LeMay, the Air Force Vice-Chief of Staff. Mr. Mullen stated that a demonstration was organized using four watermelons placed at 50, 75 & 100 yards. Gen. LeMay fired at three of the watermelons which completely destroyed them. When it was pointed out to the General that there was a fourth watermelon remaining and was asked if he wanted to shoot it or eat it. His response was “Let’s eat the son of a bitch”, which they did. While they were standing in the field eating watermelon Gen. LeMay explained that he had been looking for a rifle weighing less than the M-1 Garand and the Springfield M-14 but one with more punch than the M-1 carbine. Mr. Mullen recalled that Gen. LeMay was happy at the prospect of receiving his order in a timely manner and on the spot placed an order for 8,500 rifles. That demonstration with this rifle is the basis for what was to become one of the most widely disbursed military rifles in history with innumerable knock-offs in semi-auto configuration. Mr. Mullen, upon being asked regarding the legend that this rifle had actually been fired by Pres. John F. Kennedy from the Kennedy family yacht, the Honey Fitz, Mr. Mullen responded that he was unaware of such an occurrence. Mr. Mullen was then asked about the legendary “two around the globe sales trips”. Mr. Mullen responded that there were actually more than two, he said that they were constantly traveling. Mr. Mullen related that “serious consideration was given by several countries, including the Philippines, India, Cambodia and South Viet Nam”. He stated that in order to impress the dignitaries at the demonstrations they used coconuts to demonstrate the destructive capabilities of the rifle and its small bore cartridge. Mr. Mullen further stated “they weren’t coconuts all of the time.” He stated that he did not record the location of an incident that happened at a South Viet Nam military outpost nor did he record the name of the Vietnamese officer who was probably a Major although his nickname was “The Pope” or something similar. At the conclusion of the coconut demonstration the Vietnamese officer gave instructions to bring out two Viet Cong prisoners from the compound. They were told in Vietnamese that if they reached the jungle, about 200-225 meters away, they would be free. The prisoners began running and “The Pope” did the shooting. Both prisoners were instantly killed with devastating wound results. Mr. Mullen stated that he had photographs of that incident but consignor and his wife declined the offer to look at them, much to their later regret. Mr. Mullen stated that there was no need to involve the testing of any other rifle than #106 as it never jammed and it never failed. Mr. Mullen also offered that the subsequent decisions by the military to switch to ball powder and a different rate of twist in the bores was the reason that so many of the early M-16s in Viet Nam jammed which resulted in numerous unnecessary deaths of American soldiers. He implied that if they had not been so intractable in going against the advice of the designer, Mr. Eugene Stoner, and had kept the orig cartridge loading and rate of twist that the jamming problem would probably not have occurred. Consignor and his wife, on 15 July 1992, visited the Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution to seek an appointment with Dr. Ezell, the Curator of the Division of Armed Forces History at the Smithsonian and the author of numerous military firearms related books. Especially notable is his treatise The Great Rifle Controversy which is the defining work as relates to the AR-15/M16 project. Dr. Ezell stated that he was intimately familiar with this rifle and the history behind it and stated, in answer to a direct question, that #106 is in fact the rifle used at “The Watermelon Demonstration”. On the same day consignor and his wife visited the headquarters of the United States Secret Service to attempt to verify the Pres. Kennedy connection. The Secret Service was uncooperative and provided no information. Consignor provided a list of some of the first twenty AR-15s and what may have happened to them, as follows: #000101 – Presented to Mr. John MacDonald, Cooper MacDonald Corp.; #000102 – Presented to Mr. Dick Boutelle, President of Armalite Division, Fairchild Hiller Corp. These two rifles were presented at Colt on 26 Dec. 1959 by Fred Roff, President of Colt with Eugene Stoner & Bob Freemont in attendance. Consignor shows that numbers 000102, 000103, 000104 & 000105 were presented to Heads of State (or other dignitaries) in South Viet Nam, India, Cambodia & Singapore. There is no indication of what may have happened to the remainder of the first production rifles. Neither is there any indication that SNs 000101 & 000102 were ever registered with BATFE or that they may be transferable. Therefore this rifle is the oldest known transferable AR-15/M16 rifle in existence and it certainly is the most famous of all. Also accompanied by a copy of Treasury Form 3 transferring this rifle to the Law Enforcement Ordnance Co., Athens, Georgia on Feb. 11, 1975. Additionally accompanying is a copy of p. 163 of The Shotgun News dated Nov. 15, 1977, which is an ad of the Law Enforcement Ordnance Co. which lists this rifle for sale and states that it is the “7th production M-16, from the Cooper MacDonald Collection. Cooper MacDonald was the firm which marketed the M-16 to the U.S. Government for Colt; this was a sales sample which was fired by McNamara and John F. Kennedy, Diem, Batista, and a number of other prominent world figures.” Also accompanied by an orig 1916 AR-15 Automatic Rifle Instructions Manual. This exact rifle is the subject of an article in Vol. 15, No. 1(Oct 2011) Small Arms Review magazine. PROVENANCE: Colt Industries; Cooper MacDonald Corp.; Law Enforcement Ordnance Co.; Shane MacMahon Collection; Michael Harden Collection; David Norman Collection. CONDITION: Very fine. The metal, overall, retains nearly all of its orig matte gray/green finish with only sharp edge and high point wear. Buttstock has a T-shaped crack in left side at the buttplate and the right side of the forearm has a small crack in one edge. Otherwise stock, forearm & grip are sound with light handling & use nicks & scratches and retains most of its orig factory finish. Mechanics are crisp, bright shiny bore. Magazine retains about 80% orig finish. 4-42475 JR136 (40,000-60,000)

Auction: Firearms - Fall 2011

Please Note: All prices include the hammer price plus the buyer’s premium, which is paid by the buyer as part of the purchase price. The prices noted here after the auction are considered unofficial and do not become official until after the 46th day.

Image	Lot	Price	Description
	1009	$103,500.00	Revised: 9/8/2011 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: This firearm is classified as a fully transferable C&R. *NEAR MYTHICAL EXTRAORDINARILY RARE COLT AR-15 MODEL 1 ORIGINAL SELECT FIRE TEST RIFLE KNOWN AS “THE COCONUT RIFLE”. SN 000106. Cal. 223. Extraordinary AR-15, the sixth one ever made by Colt with 20″ tapered rnd bbl and orig 3-pronged brush catcher flash hider. It has the typical tall AR-15 front sight with adjustable post & bayonet lug. Receiver is typical of standard production rifles with carrying handle mounted, windage adjustable, 2-position flip rear sight and serrated charging handle with integral lock, chrome plated bolt carrier and spring loaded dust cover. Magazine release is in the usual position on right side with bolt carrier lock release on left side. Left side of magazine well is marked with a large rampant Colt in a circle, “COLT / ARMALITE AR15 / PATENTS PENDING / CAL 223 / MODEL 01 / SERIAL 000106”. Mounted with mottled red composition 2-pc ventilated triangle forearm and solid buttstock with hollow pistol grip. Buttplate is of black composition material with ribbed face. Bottom of butt is mounted with a sling swivel stud with corresponding sling wire part of the front sight bracket and contains a Vietnam era nylon Nobukl adjustable sling. Also accompanied by an orig “waffle” stamped sheet stainless steel magazine. Base plate of magazine is marked “ARMALITE AR-15 / PATENTS PENDING / CAL. .223 / COLT’S PT. F.A. MFG. CO. INC. / HARTFORD, CONN. U.S.A”. Base plate of magazine has a small key slot used for dismounting the base plate. This rifle is one of the first twenty AR-15s built by Colt in 1959 and was the single rifle used in all demonstrations of the capabilities of the new Armalite design from Eugene Stoner. Accompanied by a Colt factory letter which states that this rifle was shipped to Cooper MacDonald Co. of Baltimore, MD on Feb. 17, 1960. The Cooper MacDonald Co. had been selected by Colt to market this new product and this rifle was therefore shipped to the company into the hands of Mr. William Mullen, the Vice-President of Cooper MacDonald. In a signed & notarized statement from consignor dated June 9, 2011, consignor states that he obtained possession of this rifle in March 1989 and on July 14 & 15, 1992 he and his wife traveled to Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, MD and had a lengthy appointment with Mr. Mullen, V.P. of Cooper MacDonald Co. Mr. Mullen stated that SN 106 is the rifle that made two trips around the world for demonstrations to various friendly governments. He stated that on July 4, 1960 this was the rifle that was used in the “Watermelon Demonstration”. Mr. Mullen stated that the demonstration took place on Mr. MacDonald’s farm which was an annual cookout & beer bust and that prior to the party Mr. MacDonald had told him to “bring the rifle – there will be some brass there”. Mr. Mullen stated that the brass turned out to be Gen. Curtis E. LeMay, the Air Force Vice-Chief of Staff. Mr. Mullen stated that a demonstration was organized using four watermelons placed at 50, 75 & 100 yards. Gen. LeMay fired at three of the watermelons which completely destroyed them. When it was pointed out to the General that there was a fourth watermelon remaining and was asked if he wanted to shoot it or eat it. His response was “Let’s eat the son of a bitch”, which they did. While they were standing in the field eating watermelon Gen. LeMay explained that he had been looking for a rifle weighing less than the M-1 Garand and the Springfield M-14 but one with more punch than the M-1 carbine. Mr. Mullen recalled that Gen. LeMay was happy at the prospect of receiving his order in a timely manner and on the spot placed an order for 8,500 rifles. That demonstration with this rifle is the basis for what was to become one of the most widely disbursed military rifles in history with innumerable knock-offs in semi-auto configuration. Mr. Mullen, upon being asked regarding the legend that this rifle had actually been fired by Pres. John F. Kennedy from the Kennedy family yacht, the Honey Fitz, Mr. Mullen responded that he was unaware of such an occurrence. Mr. Mullen was then asked about the legendary “two around the globe sales trips”. Mr. Mullen responded that there were actually more than two, he said that they were constantly traveling. Mr. Mullen related that “serious consideration was given by several countries, including the Philippines, India, Cambodia and South Viet Nam”. He stated that in order to impress the dignitaries at the demonstrations they used coconuts to demonstrate the destructive capabilities of the rifle and its small bore cartridge. Mr. Mullen further stated “they weren’t coconuts all of the time.” He stated that he did not record the location of an incident that happened at a South Viet Nam military outpost nor did he record the name of the Vietnamese officer who was probably a Major although his nickname was “The Pope” or something similar. At the conclusion of the coconut demonstration the Vietnamese officer gave instructions to bring out two Viet Cong prisoners from the compound. They were told in Vietnamese that if they reached the jungle, about 200-225 meters away, they would be free. The prisoners began running and “The Pope” did the shooting. Both prisoners were instantly killed with devastating wound results. Mr. Mullen stated that he had photographs of that incident but consignor and his wife declined the offer to look at them, much to their later regret. Mr. Mullen stated that there was no need to involve the testing of any other rifle than #106 as it never jammed and it never failed. Mr. Mullen also offered that the subsequent decisions by the military to switch to ball powder and a different rate of twist in the bores was the reason that so many of the early M-16s in Viet Nam jammed which resulted in numerous unnecessary deaths of American soldiers. He implied that if they had not been so intractable in going against the advice of the designer, Mr. Eugene Stoner, and had kept the orig cartridge loading and rate of twist that the jamming problem would probably not have occurred. Consignor and his wife, on 15 July 1992, visited the Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution to seek an appointment with Dr. Ezell, the Curator of the Division of Armed Forces History at the Smithsonian and the author of numerous military firearms related books. Especially notable is his treatise The Great Rifle Controversy* which is the defining work as relates to the AR-15/M16 project. Dr. Ezell stated that he was intimately familiar with this rifle and the history behind it and stated, in answer to a direct question, that #106 is in fact the rifle used at “The Watermelon Demonstration”. On the same day consignor and his wife visited the headquarters of the United States Secret Service to attempt to verify the Pres. Kennedy connection. The Secret Service was uncooperative and provided no information. Consignor provided a list of some of the first twenty AR-15s and what may have happened to them, as follows: #000101 – Presented to Mr. John MacDonald, Cooper MacDonald Corp.; #000102 – Presented to Mr. Dick Boutelle, President of Armalite Division, Fairchild Hiller Corp. These two rifles were presented at Colt on 26 Dec. 1959 by Fred Roff, President of Colt with Eugene Stoner & Bob Freemont in attendance. Consignor shows that numbers 000102, 000103, 000104 & 000105 were presented to Heads of State (or other dignitaries) in South Viet Nam, India, Cambodia & Singapore. There is no indication of what may have happened to the remainder of the first production rifles. Neither is there any indication that SNs 000101 & 000102 were ever registered with BATFE or that they may be transferable. Therefore this rifle is the oldest known transferable AR-15/M16 rifle in existence and it certainly is the most famous of all. Also accompanied by a copy of Treasury Form 3 transferring this rifle to the Law Enforcement Ordnance Co., Athens, Georgia on Feb. 11, 1975. Additionally accompanying is a copy of p. 163 of The Shotgun News dated Nov. 15, 1977, which is an ad of the Law Enforcement Ordnance Co. which lists this rifle for sale and states that it is the “7th production M-16, from the Cooper MacDonald Collection. Cooper MacDonald was the firm which marketed the M-16 to the U.S. Government for Colt; this was a sales sample which was fired by McNamara and John F. Kennedy, Diem, Batista, and a number of other prominent world figures.” Also accompanied by an orig 1916 AR-15 Automatic Rifle Instructions Manual. This exact rifle is the subject of an article in Vol. 15, No. 1(Oct 2011) Small Arms Review magazine. PROVENANCE: Colt Industries; Cooper MacDonald Corp.; Law Enforcement Ordnance Co.; Shane MacMahon Collection; Michael Harden Collection; David Norman Collection. CONDITION: Very fine. The metal, overall, retains nearly all of its orig matte gray/green finish with only sharp edge and high point wear. Buttstock has a T-shaped crack in left side at the buttplate and the right side of the forearm has a small crack in one edge. Otherwise stock, forearm & grip are sound with light handling & use nicks & scratches and retains most of its orig factory finish. Mechanics are crisp, bright shiny bore. Magazine retains about 80% orig finish. 4-42475 JR136 (40,000-60,000) Auction: Firearms - Fall 2011 Please Note: All prices include the hammer price plus the buyer’s premium, which is paid by the buyer as part of the purchase price. The prices noted here after the auction are considered unofficial and do not become official until after the 46th day.

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