George Eastman (Kodak) took his own life with a model 1900 Luger on March 14th 1932, he was 77 years old. The suicide scene investigators wrapped up their report the same afternoon. Pictures of the gun and the crime scene evidence stored away....never to be questioned for many decades later.
The luger must have been sold at a late 1940's police auction yet no recording of its whereabouts surfaced until 1952 when Alfred H. recorded it on his pistol permit, signed by Sheriff Albert Skinner.
Alfred H. had a brother in the police force Carl H. who happens to be a luger collector. Unlike Skinner who collected Colt arms.
Certainly, after WW2 most soldiers brought a luger souvenir home.
Carl H. didn't need to record any of his pistols because back in the early days police officers didn't need a pistol permit.
Anyway, the story has many twists turns and mysteries.
Most shockingly, all of Eastmans' crime scene evidence disappeared from the Rochester police Department.
The gun supposedly disappeared until the GEH Museum featured an article in the D&C (Rochester NY newspaper) about Eastman and the missing gun on Febuary 27,2000.
Knowing we had a different luger in our antique gun collection we set out and did our own investigation.
Sure enough.
Alfred H. walked into our store front sporting goods shop in July, 1972 and sold George Eastmans' suicide weapon, never telling us any of its true history, only that, it was purchased at auction and it once belonging to George Eastmans' gun collection. Like many of our collectables the luger was buried and never saw the light of day for the next 28 years until that Feb 2000 article.
According to an investigator friend of mine, that same July day, Alfred H. went downtown to delete a luger and a mouser off of his permit so as he can travel over state lines on his way to retirement in Florida.
Let's go back to 1932.
Days after Eastmans' death, police found a second luger in his bedroom behind the bookcase presumably its matching brother.
We theorize, back in 1900 George Eastman was in Europe promoting his bran new Brownie Camera...the same time...
George Luger was manufacturing his bran new masterpiece the
1900 Luger.
Eastman received a matched set of Lugers' and George Luger received a Brownie Camera.
Exchaning turn of the century gifts sounds completely normal for 2 industrial giants but any such transaction was never recorded.
Much of Eastmans life was never recorded for that matter.
On account of the supposed suicide luger markings, Ralph Shattuck
http://www.worldoflugers.com
knows, without a doubt, Eastman carried THE luger out of Germany in the year 1900.
Sorry for such a long message but the story is getting more and more interesting as time goes on.
Feb 20th 2005, The Democrat & Chronicle newspaper featured a huge Sunday front page article with our luger on the front page and a huge picture of me holding the gun on the 12th page.
The headlines on the front page :
"IS THIS LUGER REALLY WORTH $2 MILLION ?"
In all reality it's worth as much as someone wants to pay but the story has more potential...especially when considering murder disguised as suicide.....
quote:Originally posted by Weimar_Police
oh, and good luck in your quest, I have for whatever reason picked up several guns with a last 2 of #39, so now I have looked for them, so kind of understand the numbering like you suggest.
ed
