Estate Sales

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Over the years, certain auction houses or dealers claimed they had "Johnson Estate" items, or "special prototypes" with special serial numbers, available for sale at elevated price levels. These claims should all be considered as outright false. The only Johnson Rifle or deactivated LMG products and prototypes, that were in the personal collection of Melvin Maynard Johnson Jr, at the time of his death in 1965, have been directly handled by members of his family. These items are already in the legal possession of a few private collectors or museums and have never been available for sale to the general public. 

 

One of the more notable items is the "Queen of the Netherlands" rifle # A2913, presented by Melvin Johnson to the Queen in 1942. Only ONE of these was ever made for her. If anyone happens to find another such rifle, simply treat it as a "replica" or "copy" of the real thing, priced accordingly, and not as an "exclusive original."

In summary, as we always say, buy the gun itself, but not the "story."