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LOT 1501
Kermit Roosevelt’s Historic Extensively Family Documented Parker Brothers 20 Gauge VH Grade Double Barrel Hammerless Shotgun and Four-Piece Silver Drinking Set with Herb Glass Documentation - Serial no. 117418, 20 gauge, 28 inch solid rib bbl., blue/casehardened finish, walnut stock. This is an incredibly rare opportunity to get your hands on a historic firearm documented from the Roosevelt family gun collection, especially one dating to 1903 during Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency. The historic shotgun and silver drinking set were owned by
Kermit Roosevelt (1889-1943), the second son of Theodore Roosevelt and his second wife Edith Kermit Carow, and includes pieces from different periods in his life, including what was likely his
first shotgun. It is accompanied by documentation from 1970 confirming the sale of the shotgun to Herb Glass by Kermit Roosevelt’s second son J. Willard Roosevelt on behalf of the Estate of Belle W. Roosevelt (Kermit’s wife) as well a 1967 letter discussing Herta Carla Peters’s sale of the silver cup and her remembrance of “The Room,” a private speakeasy formed around 1931 with Kermit and Theodore Roosevelt Jr. and Vincent Astor among the small number of members and frequented by them
and their “lady friends (never the wives)” before it closed in 1938. Peters was Roosevelt’s long time mistress, and a postcard with a photo of the couple is included. She indicated the design on the cup was the crest drawn by Carl Rungius for “The Room,” and the silver cup was taken by Kermit Roosevelt as a memento when it closed. She had his cup and also one with her name on it and was hesitant to sell his. In an included letter to Peters from Roosevelt on the letterhead of the Machine Gun Training Centre at The Barracks, Mill Hill, he discusses how he missed her and the training, including that “machine gun warfare has changed a lot.” An included clipping from the New York Times in 1939 shows him conducting machine gun training. Also included is an inventory of Richard P. Mellon’s Theodore Roosevelt collection signed by Herb Glass as Mellon’s agent listing among the items the shotgun, flasks, and cup.
The shotgun is mentioned briefly in the chapter “The Omen of Death in the Moyowosi” in R.L. Wilson’s “Theodore Roosevelt: Hunter-Conservationist.” Greg Martin writes, “Early in 1985, I purchased the largest group of Theodore Roosevelt firearms and related memorabilia in private hands, from the Richard Prosser Mellon Collection. Included were guns from Roosevelt’s exploits in the Wild West, mementos from his White House years, and...a combination over-and-under rifle-shotgun, given to the President by renowned gunmaker Fred Adolph of Genoa, New York. The collection also included Kermit Roosevelt’s Winchester Model 1895 .405 big game rifle, as well as his Parker shotgun, and
the uniquely notable Holland & Holland .500/.450 Royal Grade Double Barrel Rifle, presented to TR by admiring British citizens for the historic 1909-10 East African safari.”While this shotgun remains, Kermit’s Winchester Model 1895, TR’s presentation combination gun, and a Colt Single Action Army were destroyed in a deadly fire in Africa in 1986 during the production of the documentary film
“In the Blood” inspired by Theodore and Kermit Roosevelt’s famous East African safari. The double rifle was spared thanks to delays and is now contained in the Frazier Historical Arms Museum. This shotgun is one of the few Roosevelt firearms remaining in private hands.
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