Worth an easy thousand, now. Remember the pair of
Cominazo flintlocks illustrated in Pollard's _Short History of Firearms_?
These were even better, and snaphaunces."
"Well, you go over the collection," Rand told them. "Note down anything
you find missing." He handed them a pad of paper and a pencil from the
desk. "I have something else to do, for a few minutes."
With that he left them scrutinizing the pistols on the wall, and went to
the workbench in the corner, drawing the .36 Colt from under his
waistband. Working rapidly, he dismounted it, taking off the barrel and
cylinder, and cleaned it thoroughly before putting it together again.
Pierre and Gresham had just started on the Colts when he slipped the
revolver out of sight and rejoined them.
It took over a half-hour to finish; when they had gotten completely
around the collection, Rand had a list of twenty-six missing items,
including four cased sets. At a conservative estimate, the missing
pistols were worth ten to twelve thousand dollars, dealer's list value;
the stuff that had been moved in to replace them might have a value of
two or three hundred, but no serious collector would buy any of it at any
price. There had been no attempt to replace the cased items; the cases
had been merely rearranged on the table to avoid any conspicuous
vacancies.
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