Jimbocious

Maybe the 3rd highest bidder bought it for the current price?

Rock Island's recent premier auction had a supposedly "documented" WWII-used JSAR listed, but apparently it was either pulled out of the auction, per the "prices realized" list. I Wonder what happened? https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/88/408/wwii-us-johnson-1941-rifle-with-bayonet-and-manual But 3 others sold in the $9-10k range: https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/88/1392/first-production-block-wwii-us-johnson-automatics-mode https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/88/1425/wwii-us-johnson-1941-semiautomatic-rifle-with-bayonet https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/88/3416/first-production-block-wwii-us-johnson-1941-rifle

I thought about the wax/scabbard/cosmoline/scabbard issue after I posted, but then thought they may have been manufactured separately and shipped together but possibly in separate boxes. Do any of the admins know whether the Johnson factory actually made the scabbards? They would have needed a separate leather tooling operation, which seems a bit unlikely??

I still don't get the whole wax thing and if it's even real. I don't recall ever reading anything about wax in any of the literature I've seen (but I'm far from the expert that others on this board are), and it makes no sense when you think about it. Why bother waxing a non-moving (essentially)-single-piece accessory (that was only added at the insistence of govt procurement pinheads) when that part was designed to be literally thrust into the mud, snow, blood and guts of battle? Did anyone really worry about it rusting during storage/shipment if it would soon be facing far worse rust-inducing conditions? And it was wartime, so extra steps and materials for something like that just doesn't seem like it would have passed any timing or budgetary tests in the day. If they were worried about rust in transit, why wouldn't they have simply used grease/cosmoline that they already had on hand for coating the rifles and that could be wiped off when received, instead of having to be melted off like wax? So none of this wax business makes any sense to me. I could be wrong, and I'd love to see any authoritative reference that bayos were ever actually waxed by the factory or others in the contemporary supply chain. Until then, I remain a skeptic.

Per Bruce Canfield (p. 145): "None of the Johnson bayonets or scabbards were originally factory marked with a serial number....." This listing says it has the number 1849 on the ring. So NOT "an original as issued Johnson Model 1941 bayonet... in new unissued condition" as claimed in the posting. I hate this sh*t!!

Art, you big tease! I'll check back in a few weeks. But given how you phrased your original post, my guess is that the secret does not relate to the barrel or the stock, which if accurate would narrow things down a bit, especially since the deeper internals are not pictured. Something about the bolt s/n perhaps? Love a good mystery!

So Art, can you disclose the secret you observed about this one? Readers want to know! "I did notice one thing in particular, which is a positive, which I will not note here, but will reveal to the potential buyer, if purchased."

This is a new one to me -- "unissued" and "in the wax" bayonet??? Is this for real??? https://www.gunbroker.com/item/964430220

A rare penny-auction/no-reserve listing for a JSAR -- will love to hear folks' assessments on this one! https://www.gunbroker.com/item/943076279

https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/86/287/world-war-ii-us-johnson-model-1941-semiautomatic-rifle (estimated @ $11,000-16,000) Taft-Pierce #R-13, https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/86/1451/r13-prototype-taftpeirce-johnson-semiautomatic-rifle (est $16,000-25,000) https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/86/1459/wwii-us-johnson-1941-semiautomatic-rifle-with-bayonet (est $9,500-14,000) https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/86/1461/us-johnson-automatics-model-1941-rifle (est $9,000-13,000) https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/86/3306/wwii-us-johnson-automatics-1941-rifle-with-bayonet ($11,000-16,000)

I was wondering about the magazine appearing to be blued, for one thing. And the recoil plate seems not to match in finish with the receiver.

SN 9364 looks suspicious to me as a supposed "mint condition" "collector quality" JSAR. Maybe that's why it sold for just over $6k?

Let the nit-picking, analysis, and cross-checking begin! https://www.gunbroker.com/item/939103302

In addition to the two $10K+ JSAR rifles sold last weekend @ RIA, a bayonet + scabbard went for over $1700... https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/85/1359/bayonet-and-scabbard-for-the-johnson-model-1941-rifle

Wow, Art, that video was over the top!