Gold Coins & Firearms, September 19, 2026
Prester John or Bust
The heat was stifling. Rains only compounding the agony. The mosquitoes, if organized into formations, could carry a canvas tent ten miles away. Quinine was plentiful to combat malaria, but nothing could ease the battle against nature or internecine tribal conflict.
10k yellow gold David Livingston Centenary medal award, presented to Robert L. Pendleton, 1950 by the American Geographic Society. of New York. Designed by Gutzon Borglum, sculptor of Mt. Rushmore.
Attrition ran high. Exploration teams were selected calculating on how many deaths the journey would expect. Someone had to survive. Natives assisting suffered a high rate of desertion. Crossing warring tribal boundaries was a constant irritant. No line in the sand here. Parameters were understood. Still, the teams staggered forward, on rivers, along trails, around waterfalls, up and down mountains. The search continued.
Robert L. Pendleton (1890-1957) studied soils science. Working for the Federal Government, he was posted in Southeast Asia, Thailand, a country he fell in love with. The Livingstone medal is awarded to those who made an impact in the geography of the Southern Hemisphere. Past recipients include President Teddy Roosevelt, Richard Byrd, and Antarctic explorer Sir Douglas Mawson.
Not For the Weak of Heart
No stranger to adventure, Henry Stanley carried a rucksack overflowing with bravado. His sponsored exploration, funded by the New York Herald, attracted worldwide attention. The search for Dr. David Livingstone, English missionary, doctor, and explorer, whereabouts unknown.
E. Remington & Sons Hepburn Model 3 falling block single shot rifle,
38-40 cal., serial number 808.
Patented in 1879, this is one of the first 1200 manufactured in 1880. A staple for target and big-game shooting (86).
He had not been heard from in years, sequestered somewhere in Africa, and a concerned English consensus worried about a man the citizens adored. For Henry, the journey carried one part concern for the doctor and three-quarters part glorification. He was an opportunist fed by headlines.
1849 C [Charlotte] five dollar gold coin. Obverse and reverse.
Locating Dr. Livingstone in this vastness would be a tremendous scoop. Stanley could envision the headlines now. He would be remembered forever. And any news would be a blessing, even death. In the nineteenth century, Henry Stanley led his band deeper and deeper into the Dark Continent. It was a dangerous endeavor, guaranteeing nothing.
For Queen and Country James
Dr. Livingstone had grown up in English textile mills. Child labor, working 14 hour days running machinery. Despite the grit, he attended evening classes. David soon understood education offered building blocks, a way to climb out of the mundane.
Winchester Model 1885 High Wall lever action single shot rifle, .38 W.C.F., serial number 85493. 39" octagonal heavy barrel, mfg. 1900 (67).
These Winchesters found their home in Match Shooting, a craze in the latter nineteenth century.
Gun manufacturers vied for the best gun possible as shooting competition was keen.
He was attracted to the clergy, a caste benefiting from higher education. It was here he was exposed to missionary work, an attraction feeding the boy's desire. From this perch he also had the chance at higher education. Science, his choice, would lead to a medical degree.
1908 St. Gaudens twenty dollar gold coin no motto
Obverse & reverse
With these credentials, he was offered a position overseas, his first choice the West Indies. But these slots were filled. Africa was next on the list, the lost continent, but a step forward. From theology to medicine, he bore another cloak, explorer. His journeys were funded in the interest of science and English advancement into a rich and foreboding continent. The lure irresistible. Little was known about this region and England's wealth could afford enlightenment.
Catch Me If You Can
Born John Rowlands in Wales, Henry Stanley Morton, suffered a horrendous youth. Abandoned by his mother, death stealing his father, his early years were in orphanages. There he was abused, physically and sexually.
Borden Alpine bolt action rifle, 7 mm-08 Ackley cal., serial number A0121, mounted Zeiss scope.
Gun category filled with high end target with custom barrels.
In 1859, at the age of eighteen, he ran away, boarding a ship to America where he disembarked in New Orleans. The time was the American Civil War.
1907 Liberty Head ten dollar coin
Obverse and reverse
There he met a merchant by chance, Henry Stanley, who befriended him. It is the name John Rowlands would carry the rest of his life. Reluctantly, he was conscripted into the Confederate Army only to be captured by the Union at the Battle of Shiloh. He knew how to read a weather vane and soon he was on the Union front line. Illness shortened his enlistment only to join the Union Navy a time later. Stumbling forward post war he became a freelance journalist, landing a position with the New York Herald. Among his many adventures and sojourns into Africa, all the while dispatching reports to the newspaper, the gimmick to find David Livingstone was offered. The rest is...well, you know. His later years back in the British Isles would earn him a seat in Parliament and a Knighthood.
Heart of Darkness
Dr. David Livingstone and Sir Henry Stanley were men of different stripes. Opportunists for opposite ideals. Both were decorated by the British Empire but each sought adventure for far different reasons. Livingstone was a bit more humanitarian. Stanley was a man driven by ego.
Remington Sportsman 78 bolt action rifle, .20 PPC cal., serial number B6768702, 23" stainless steel fluted barrel by Gren-Tan, figural walnut stock, Zeiss Conquest scope (90)
Yet, here they were, tumbled together in the world's most remote region. Their singular commonality was witnessing the brutality of slave-trading. Black against black.
1912 Indian head five dollar gold coin
Obverse and reverse
Conditions were appalling. Murder, rape, burned villages. Women, children chained and driven across Africa like cattle to coastal ports only to face the slight chance of surviving a mariner's journey to a faraway land.
The doctor's diaries list the horrors. Livingstone felt, naively, if he could explore the rivers in Africa, they might offer a more desirable form of commerce than slavery. Stanley navigated the waters, careful to avoid being swept up in this humanitarian humiliation.
Dan Wesson Point Man 3 semiautomatic pistol, .45 ACP, serial number MR01083, 5" barrel (53)
When Stanley eventually met Livingstone, the press fabricated the classic line, Dr. Livingstone I presume. Ludicrous as these words were, as they were only two white men in a thousand miles, the story stuck. Newspapers sell on catch phrases and legends, and this one was a beaut, still revisited 150 years later. DR. LIVINGSTONE FOUND ALIVE IN THE DARK CONTINENT, by Henry Stanley, his byline in smaller font, unfortunately.
Walk Softly but Carry a Big Stick
An ancient African axiom. Why does mankind explore? Some are lured by scientific discovery, to go Where No Man Has Gone Before. Some for personal gain, treasure, fame. Many seek salvation, for the downtrodden, mostly for themselves. A reason to be. If I listen long enough to you. I'll find a way to believe it's all true.
Antique Beuret Frères Model 1842 pistol,
.70 cal., Liege, Belgium (38)
Whatever the reason, our world continues this quest. Death a factor. The cost of commitment. Even this never denies the urge. Oh, we are a strange lot. Driven by curiosity and intelligence, unstoppable. It is etched into our DNA helix. In our travails, we understand one certainty. Though we may arrive with an olive branch in hand, a dove on our shoulder, nothing exceeds the protection armament offers. It is a vast and wild world beyond our hearth and survival reduces to physical protection quickly. Against the unknown, against the familiar. A lesson so often forgotten, ignored by the ignorant. Winners don't just take the spoils, they steal the future for those who never had the chance. So, walk softly, my friends, but always carry a big bid, amount of your choosing of course.
Open House Friday September 18th 4 PM to 7 PM.
Doors open Saturday, September 19th at 8 AM. Auction starts at 9 AM. PA AU 1265L [bb]