Garden and Gun reports that one of President Teddy “Walk Softly And Carry a Big Stick” Roosevelt’s big sticks is coming up for sale. “For his legendary year-long safari in Africa years later, the avid sportsman brought along some of the finest guns that could be made. One of those was an A. H. Fox 12-gauge side-by-side, which even Roosevelt thought might be a little too fine to carry into the bush. ‘It is the most beautiful gun I have ever seen…I am almost ashamed to take it to Africa and expose it to the rough usage it will receive,’ he wrote to Ansley Fox. ‘But now that I have it, I could not possibly make up my mind to leave it behind.'” Now how much would you pay?
On October 5, the Fox goes up for auction by James D. Julia Auctioneers, accompanied by several other goodies, including the outboard motor wrench Roosevelt used on his Amazon expedition and cleaning rags cut from the president’s pajamas (click here to see a gallery). But if you’re thinking about bidding, bring your piggy bank. The auction house conservatively estimates the gun will sell for $750,000 to $1 million. At that price, probably best not to bring it on safari.
No “Bully for You!” if you don’t.
