It seems Jerry Lewis had a gun for every day of the year. At least when you skim through the Julien’s Auctions catalog, it looks like it. But, alas, it’s an overstatement; only 75 guns are pictured. But that gives people 75 chances of outbidding others for the chance to own a firearm that once belonged to the comic icon.
The auction is set for Friday.
Some of the guns have added value because of personalized inscriptions and such. Apparently most of his acquaintances realized that Lewis fancied firearms. Mel Torme, for example, appeared with Lewis during the MDA telethon in 1974. To commemorate the partnered performance, Torme gave Lewis a Smith & Wesson Model 40 with “Jerry Love Mel 8-74” etched into it. That gun is expected to fetch $600-800.
Many of the guns, which run the gamut from snub-nose revolvers to shotguns, mostly will be generating bids of up to $1,000, so it seems like a good chance to get a special gun for your collection. The exception to that price estimate is a John Rigby London Full Sidelock 5x5 12-ga. shotgun, which lists a range of $10,000-20,000.
Collectors can bid on unrelated items from his days of working with Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr., too.
