These guns were not owned by Joe Knapp. The gold medallions only referenced membership in the "Joe Knapp Club". Google Joe Knapp and you may find a website hosted by someone who is studying the Joe Knapp family. It is very interesting. I have seen "Joe Knapp Club" guns by Purdey, Winchester, and Fox. I think David Trevallion wrote about a Fox. Joe Knapp was a founder of Ducks Unlimited, was a very wealthy publisher who had hunting grounds in New York and the Outer Banks. He helped to support poor Outer Banks residents and is still memorialized in the area with at least one school. He is a most interesting shotgunner who shows up in searches on lafoundation.com research pages. His shotgunning days go way back. My "Joe Knapp Club" gun was owned by extremely wealthy Michigan oil person and outdoorsman L. Nicolas Ruwe. My ownership of this gun is the result of an estate sale that included some of Lester's hunting equipment. The sale, in Bethesda, MD, resulted in the discovery of the remnants of his gun collection, which were being stored in a house in NW Washington, DC. One of our members dug deep and bought all the guns which were shared with his friends. Mrs. Ruwe was social secretary to Gerald Ford during his presidency. Nicolas Ruwe was ambassador to Iceland, lived with his wife in an outrageous home in DC during their time here. The Ruwes owned a thousands of acres hunting preserve in Ontario named "St. Hubertus" after the patron saint of hunting and blood sports. I have some of his interesting guns and some more than interesting hunting accessories, a result of attending the yard sale in suburban DC. Who, pray tell, do you think I met at the "Yard Sale"? No other than our friend Kevin McCormack.
|