To unpack or not to unpack ... that is the question

[maple_leaf_eh]

Years ago I posted an Internet article on how to tell if your Lee Enfield sniper rifle is a fake. One thing I wanted to include was there is no such thing as a new in the grease wartime sniper rifle. They were made to be issued and used, without setting one back on the rack for some collector more than a half-century later. But .... your Irish Contract rifle was never issued to a soldier or used in anger. That makes it a different category of Lee Enfield. They are only unused once. It is yours to do with as you please, but I agree with Rob to leave it alone. There are millions of ordinary .303 No.4 Mk.I and II rifles, only some are still wrapped.

Keeping on the vehicle theme of MLU, I read a conversation with an American who had painstakingly restored a 1969 Cadillac Gage V100 armored (sic) car and some rich car collector. 'How much?' says the guy. So many tens of thousands of dollars says the owner. 'Wow! I could pull the motor, put in a big block and a supercharger and change the wheels and put on new tires ....' The owner says, 'Great idea! The price is now tens of thousands of more dollars.' 'But you just said ....' 'Well how about we make it an even couple hundred thousand dollars?' Johnny Deep Pockets just did not understand the value of some of our artifacts in not calculated in folding money but integrity and respect for the piece.