A reader from New Jersey emailed me this cool story …

I’ve been a follower of your blog for about three years now and I really enjoy it! I have a part time job working as a junker, basically people pay me and another guy to remove junk from their houses.

The other day a friend and I were clearing out a room in a lady’s house and came upon a rifle. I immediately ‘called it’ and was able to take it home. From my internet research, I was able to find out it is a Marlin Model 1889 32-20 caliber. It’s not in bad shape and most likely is able to fire.

A very lucky find! The Model 1889 was not produced for very long, just one decade I believe, so it it quite likely to be a pre-1899 firearm and therefore legally classified as an antique.

[ Many thanks to Scott for emailing us the story and photos. ]