|
Colt Firearms Collector |
1930s
|
Shiff, aka Carl L. Shiffer, was born 1878 in Waterloo, Iowa and died 1952 in North Woodstock, NH. at age 75. He was actively criticizing Teddy Roosevelt and the New Deal in the newspaper and with letters about Roosevelt as an adult.
Since Roosevelt was president from September 14, 1901 – March 4, 1909. Shiff could have been active in dealing guns from c.1901 into the1950's. He could easily have had and was giving out Colt printed material from 1901 to the 1940s and this helps us figure out when the Colt brochures and pamphlets were stamped in red with:
"Shift with the House of Shiff the Gunman"
|
1914 1910 1929
|
Above are a few examples of Colt factory pamphlets from this collection which were stamped with:
'Shift with the House of Shiff the Gunman'
All of these examples came from a collector in Plymouth, Mass. who was actively collecting Colt material in the 1920 -30s era. |
|
Shiff with a white beard is seated right-center of this photo in his gun shop
The 1938 Home of the Hermit Gun-dealer of North Woodstock, N.H. 'Shiff the Gunman', who mainly takes shots at the New Deal in writing. The colorful 75 year old Shiff had two consuming activities in his life. One was the collecting and selling of old guns. The other was taking verbal shots at President Roosevelt and the New Deal.
When not dealing with guns Shiff was composing letters and poems condemning the President and his administration and he would send these letters and poems to local newspapers.
Shiff started collecting guns at 15 years old, by 1938 he had well over 600 valuable firearms. Photo credit is ACME. Photo from the Robert J. Girouard collection. A Facebook article, is shown below, which you can look up to see a better copy. |
Additional information in a story by Stan Hotz,
Oct. 2012, 'The Outdoor Gazzette'
Source: Facebook Oct. 2012 print article
|
After his death in 1952, the gun collection of 'Shiff' was sold via an 8.5 x 11 in., 47 page catalog which was published by 'The Shiff Associates', Danvers, Mass. Judging by the seller's descriptions of the guns, most were 'VG' at best, some were listed 'as new'. |
|
In 2023 I found a 1929 Colt catalog in terrible condition on eBay and for some reason, I looked at all the images. I found two pages of artwork on the back-cover with Shiff's signature and address.
I compared his hand writing to other writing by Shiff online and I feel sure this is him. I have no idea if he was the artist, but the the scene of a small cabin in the upper right corner of the page sure looks like his place in N.H. The catalog came out of Maine.
Who knew old Shiff was thinking about women, not guns, during all those long winters in N.H? |
1929 Colt Catalog cover and back pages (both sides)
Shiff's writing on the 1929 catalog
"W. R . Burkhard, St. Paul Minn.", was a sporting goods dealer
Shiff's writing on a 1941 envelope
to compare handwriting
'Hudson Bay' on the front of the cabin
For the best experience, please view this Colt website
with a format larger than a cell phone
