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1921s, updating the features based on USMC feedback, and overstamping the “1921” to “1928” to match their newer model. According to Herigstad’s “Colt Thompson Submachine Gun Serial Numbers and Histories” (page 863), this particular Thompson was shipped to the Sheriff’s Office of Umatilla County, Oregon as a single item on October 4, 1934. It would later be recorded in a private commerce starting in 1983. Included are copies of the 1934 registration for this Thompson with the Sheriff’s Office of Umatilla County and 1983 registration transferring the Thompson to an Oregon couple, as well as an April 1934 mailing card from Art Burnside Sporting Goods
of Spokane, Washington, informing Sheriff of Umatilla County R.E. Goad that the Thompson would soon arrive and offered to sell the sheriff ammunition at a discounted price. Art Burnside was the maker of the Oregon boot shackle, a prison restraint fitted to the prisoner’s foot.
LOT 1355
Exceptional Documented Law Enforcement Shipped Colt Model 1921/1928 U.S. Navy Overstamp Thompson Submachine Gun, Class
III/NFA C&R Fully Transferable Machine Gun - Serial no. 8966, 45 ACP cal., 10
1/2 inch fluted bbl., blue finish, walnut stock. Originally manufactured by Colt as a Model 1921
Thompson SMG, one of a number stuck in inventory due to sluggish sales; while today the Thompson is recognized as an American classic and one of the all-time finest “heavy metal” SMGs, at the time it was
a novel, untested and expensive weapon, and few were willing to roll the dice. The U.S. Marine Corps was an early adopter, and the firm attempted to capitalize on the connection by adding “U.S. NAVY” markings to their