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Product Details
A GOOD .455 SMITH & WESSON 'TRIPLE-LOCK' HAND-EJECTOR REVOLVER, serial no. 4889,
circa 1908, with blued 6 1/2in. barrel signed by the maker and with patent dates to 1906, full ejector guard, blued solid frame with fluted six-shot swing-out cylinder, double-action mechanism with colour hardened trigger and hammer, chequered walnut grips with inlet trade-marked medallions, much original finish remaining, with certificate of proof
Provenance: The vendor has kindly informed us that his revolver was previously the property of Major Stanley Charles Panter M.C. T.D.
Stanley Charles "Bombs" Panter (1909 - 1968)
Having already been an active member of the Territorial Army based in Balham, just before the outbreak of WWII, in August 1939 he joined the 9th (2nd City of London) Royal Fusiliers as a private.
He fought with the BEF in France and Belgium and was evacuated at Dunkirk in 1940 before being granted an emergency commission as 2nd Lieutenant on 28 December 1940.
In late 1941 Panter volunteered for airborne forces shortly after the formation of the 1st Parachute Brigade and by July 1942 he was commanding an experimental airborne platoon nicknamed "Panter's Pirates". His formal transfer to the Army Air Corps was gazetted on 1st August 1942
Lieutenant Panter served with the 2nd Parachute Battalion in North Africa and as part of Operation Torch led a successful operational jump with parachute mortars over Tunis in December, 1942 (earing him the nickname 'Bombs').
Acting Captain Panter went to Italy with the 2nd Para Bn, dropped in Sicily on Operation Husky where his actions saw him awarded with the Military Cross:
"For conspicuous gallantry and initiative in action. On the 14th of July 1943. The officer was in company with a part of the 2nd Battalion Parachute Regiment which had been dropped on the Catania Plain in Sicily, to secure the high ground South of the River Simeto. On two occasions this officer led small parties to deal with enemy Machine Gun positions and killing or capturing the crews. Later this officer single handed captured an enemy howitzer together with ammunition, he organised a gun crew from the men of the Battalion and directed fire from this weapon on to the enemy. Throughout the action he displayed great courage under heavy fire and complete contempt for danger".
He jumped into Arnhem on Operation Market Garden on the afternoon of 17 September 1944, as the Officer Commanding Support Company, 2nd Para Bn. He was wounded and eventually captured as a Prisoner of War on Thursday 21 September 1944, he managed to escape for a hospital but was recaptured later at the river. A/Capt Panter was initially sent to Stalag XIIA at Limburg before transfer to Oflag XIIB and eventually Oflag 79 at Brunswick,(the former home of a German Parachute Regiment) until liberated in April 1945 by the U.S. Ninth Army.
After the war Panter served with the Territorial Army until 1959, receiving the Territorial Efficiency Decoration in 1955, he also joined the City of London Special Constabulary
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Estimate £1,000-1,500
S5 - Sold as a Section 5 Firearm under the 1968 Firearms Act, Sections 7.3 and 7.1 Eligible.
Unless prior arrangement has been made, two weeks after the Sealed bid sale, all Section 5 (and Section 7.1 / 7.3) items will be moved to a Section 5 carriers where storage charges will be incurred.
Goods will not be released until all outstanding charges have been met. Collection will be by arrangement.