*RARE IDENTIFIED U.S. PROPERTY COLT MODEL 1903 GENERAL OFFICER’S PISTOL.

*RARE IDENTIFIED U.S. PROPERTY COLT MODEL 1903 GENERAL OFFICER’S PISTOL. SN 569379. Cal. 32 ACP. Parkerized finish with 3-3/4″ bbl, fixed sights and “U.S. PROPERTY” on the right side of the frame. Mounted with full checkered, silver medallion wood grips. This pistol and associated equipment were the property of Maj. Gen. Richard W. Whitney. Accompanied by its orig Anniston Ordnance Depot shipping document transferring this pistol, identified by SN to Brig. Gen. Whitney on 1 March 1962. Also accompanying is the orig Anniston Ordnance Depot shipping box containing two spare magazines, an orig cleaning rod and hermetically sealed cleaning brush, along with the orig packing material for this pistol. Additionally accompanied by an orig black leather General Officer’s belt and gold 2-pc buckle with an orig black leather holster. Additionally accompanied by a short, two color horn swaggerstick with concealed sword blade and an Iranian made photo album containing a photo of the ruler of Iran, Reza Shah Pahlavi and several black & white 8X10 photos of Brig. Gen. Whitney apparently inspecting an Iranian repair facility. Additionally accompanied by a 50-star American flag that has gold fringe from Gen. Whitney’s office and then from his Maj. General’s office a flag which is solid red with gold fringe & two large white stars in the center. Both flags are on their wooden standards with nickeled spear points and tips along with orig OD canvas covers, marked “US”. Richard W. Whitney was born in Rockland, ME, February 6, 1913, graduated from the Univ. of Akron in 1935 and was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant in the infantry reserve. In January 1941, he entered active duty as a 1st Lieutenant and was assigned to Camp Wheeler, GA. In July 1942, General Whitney became part of the first Special Service Force (SSF), a joint brigade consisting of American and Canadian troops which later became enormously famous, or infamous depending on which side you look at it from, and were known by the Germans as “The Devil’s Brigade”. They trained at Fort William Henry Harrison, MT and served throughout WWII with Gen. Whitney eventually becoming Regimental Commander in the European Theater of Operations (ETO). The unit trained from July 1942 to July 1943 under Col. Robert Frederick, who later became a Maj. Gen. before retiring. The unit was made up of 3 brigades consisting of 32 officers and 385 enlisted men each. They were all volunteers from American and Canadian units, equally divided among both country’s services. In August 1943, they were part of the invasion force of the island of Kiska and the Aleutian chain. In November 1943 they arrived in Italy and were part of the invasion force tasked with taking two heavily fortified German positions, controlled by two German armored divisions. After climbing a 65 degree mountain, for which they became extremely famous and for which they were honored with several movies and documentaries, including the motion picture The Devil’s Brigade, in 1968. They succeeded in their mission, suffering 77% casualties, which included 91 dead, 9 missing, 313 wounded and 116 cases of exhaustion. After they were relieved and repositioned, they participated in the landing at the Anzio beachhead where they again suffered heavy losses, but created havoc among the Germans causing them to assign more troops to the defense of that area than they had initially intended, believing that they were facing a much larger force then they actually were. It was here that they received the sobriquet “Devil’s Brigade” or frequently “Black Devils” due to their using black boot polish smeared on their faces for nighttime operations. During this campaign they fought for 99 days without relief. It was also here that they used printed stickers left on German corpses and fortifications, in German, which translated to “The worst is yet to come”. In May 1944 they were the first unit to enter Rome having been given the assignment of capturing seven bridges to prevent the Germans from destroying them. In August 1944 the FSSF landed in southern France during Operation Dragoon where they captured five forts on the islands in which action nine of their members were killed. On 5 December 1944 the unit was disbanded and their members assigned to numerous Canadian and American special forces units. The first SSF was the orig predecessor of all current special forces units. During the war this 1,800 man unit accounted for 12,000 German casualties, captured 7,000 prisoners and had an attrition rate of over 600%. Decorations for valor of this unit are far too numerous to mention. Gen. Whitney was a charter member of the first SSF and remained with them until they were disbanded. He remained in the ETO and in other command assignments until the end of the war. Following the war, he remained in the Army at various assignments around the U.S. and again served combat duty in Korea. After the Korean War, he spent three years on the Army General staff and then had various assignments around the U.S. and Hawaii. In July 1960 he returned to the U.S. and became the Deputy Chief of Staff of the 3rd Army. In April 1962 he became the Deputy Chief, ARMISH / MAAG and Chief of Army section, MAAG, Iran. In Feb 1964 he became the Asst. Chief of Staff for Plans and Programs at the Defense Intelligence Agency and in July 1966 became the Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, Headquarters U.S. Army Europe and returned to the U.S. in June 1970. In June 1970 he became the Deputy Commanding General, 6th U.S. Army, Presidio of San Francisco, CA. During his tenure with the first SSF, he served under Gen. Frederick who was combat wounded eight times and was partially responsible for the design of the Case Model V-42 Commando knife. PROVENANCE: Maj. Gen. Richard W. Whitney. CONDITION: Pistol appears to be new & unfired, retaining virtually all of its crisp, orig factory grey Parkerized finish with crisp grips & brilliant, shiny bore. Belt & holster are equally new with orig shiny gold buckle. Magazines & parts are equally new. Swagger stick is fine. Photo album is equally fine. Flags are crisp & clean. 4-48967 JR113 (5,500-7,500)

Auction: Firearms - Fall 2013

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
	3073	$10,350.00	RARE IDENTIFIED U.S. PROPERTY COLT MODEL 1903 GENERAL OFFICER’S PISTOL. SN 569379. Cal. 32 ACP. Parkerized finish with 3-3/4″ bbl, fixed sights and “U.S. PROPERTY” on the right side of the frame. Mounted with full checkered, silver medallion wood grips. This pistol and associated equipment were the property of Maj. Gen. Richard W. Whitney. Accompanied by its orig Anniston Ordnance Depot shipping document transferring this pistol, identified by SN to Brig. Gen. Whitney on 1 March 1962. Also accompanying is the orig Anniston Ordnance Depot shipping box containing two spare magazines, an orig cleaning rod and hermetically sealed cleaning brush, along with the orig packing material for this pistol. Additionally accompanied by an orig black leather General Officer’s belt and gold 2-pc buckle with an orig black leather holster. Additionally accompanied by a short, two color horn swaggerstick with concealed sword blade and an Iranian made photo album containing a photo of the ruler of Iran, Reza Shah Pahlavi and several black & white 8X10 photos of Brig. Gen. Whitney apparently inspecting an Iranian repair facility. Additionally accompanied by a 50-star American flag that has gold fringe from Gen. Whitney’s office and then from his Maj. General’s office a flag which is solid red with gold fringe & two large white stars in the center. Both flags are on their wooden standards with nickeled spear points and tips along with orig OD canvas covers, marked “US”. Richard W. Whitney was born in Rockland, ME, February 6, 1913, graduated from the Univ. of Akron in 1935 and was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant in the infantry reserve. In January 1941, he entered active duty as a 1st Lieutenant and was assigned to Camp Wheeler, GA. In July 1942, General Whitney became part of the first Special Service Force (SSF), a joint brigade consisting of American and Canadian troops which later became enormously famous, or infamous depending on which side you look at it from, and were known by the Germans as “The Devil’s Brigade”. They trained at Fort William Henry Harrison, MT and served throughout WWII with Gen. Whitney eventually becoming Regimental Commander in the European Theater of Operations (ETO). The unit trained from July 1942 to July 1943 under Col. Robert Frederick, who later became a Maj. Gen. before retiring. The unit was made up of 3 brigades consisting of 32 officers and 385 enlisted men each. They were all volunteers from American and Canadian units, equally divided among both country’s services. In August 1943, they were part of the invasion force of the island of Kiska and the Aleutian chain. In November 1943 they arrived in Italy and were part of the invasion force tasked with taking two heavily fortified German positions, controlled by two German armored divisions. After climbing a 65 degree mountain, for which they became extremely famous and for which they were honored with several movies and documentaries, including the motion picture The Devil’s Brigade, in 1968. They succeeded in their mission, suffering 77% casualties, which included 91 dead, 9 missing, 313 wounded and 116 cases of exhaustion. After they were relieved and repositioned, they participated in the landing at the Anzio beachhead where they again suffered heavy losses, but created havoc among the Germans causing them to assign more troops to the defense of that area than they had initially intended, believing that they were facing a much larger force then they actually were. It was here that they received the sobriquet “Devil’s Brigade” or frequently “Black Devils” due to their using black boot polish smeared on their faces for nighttime operations. During this campaign they fought for 99 days without relief. It was also here that they used printed stickers left on German corpses and fortifications, in German, which translated to “The worst is yet to come”. In May 1944 they were the first unit to enter Rome having been given the assignment of capturing seven bridges to prevent the Germans from destroying them. In August 1944 the FSSF landed in southern France during Operation Dragoon where they captured five forts on the islands in which action nine of their members were killed. On 5 December 1944 the unit was disbanded and their members assigned to numerous Canadian and American special forces units. The first SSF was the orig predecessor of all current special forces units. During the war this 1,800 man unit accounted for 12,000 German casualties, captured 7,000 prisoners and had an attrition rate of over 600%. Decorations for valor of this unit are far too numerous to mention. Gen. Whitney was a charter member of the first SSF and remained with them until they were disbanded. He remained in the ETO and in other command assignments until the end of the war. Following the war, he remained in the Army at various assignments around the U.S. and again served combat duty in Korea. After the Korean War, he spent three years on the Army General staff and then had various assignments around the U.S. and Hawaii. In July 1960 he returned to the U.S. and became the Deputy Chief of Staff of the 3rd Army. In April 1962 he became the Deputy Chief, ARMISH / MAAG and Chief of Army section, MAAG, Iran. In Feb 1964 he became the Asst. Chief of Staff for Plans and Programs at the Defense Intelligence Agency and in July 1966 became the Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, Headquarters U.S. Army Europe and returned to the U.S. in June 1970. In June 1970 he became the Deputy Commanding General, 6th U.S. Army, Presidio of San Francisco, CA. During his tenure with the first SSF, he served under Gen. Frederick who was combat wounded eight times and was partially responsible for the design of the Case Model V-42 Commando knife. PROVENANCE: Maj. Gen. Richard W. Whitney. CONDITION: Pistol appears to be new & unfired, retaining virtually all of its crisp, orig factory grey Parkerized finish with crisp grips & brilliant, shiny bore. Belt & holster are equally new with orig shiny gold buckle. Magazines & parts are equally new. Swagger stick is fine. Photo album is equally fine. Flags are crisp & clean. 4-48967 JR113 (5,500-7,500) Auction: Firearms - Fall 2013 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.

.red{fill:#B50938;} .white{fill:#FFFFFF;} .blue{fill:#005596;}