Collector crushed to find out prized gun he researched for 35 years was stolen

By Chris Eger

The long rifle, crafted by Virginia gunsmith John Scheetz around 1810, was used in the Battle of New Orleans and recently returned to a museum in the city after the FBI seized it from a collector who traded for it in 1982. (Photo: New Orleans Times-Picayune)
Though a local museum was happy to get their historic rifle back this week, the collector who safeguarded it and for half his life was heartbroken to find out it was stolen.
Back in 1982, New Orleans area collector Robert Melancon got a tip from a fellow enthusiast that an esteemed local antique shop had a beautiful gun up for grabs. The early 19th Century Kentucky long rifle, engraved with information about the former owner, became his after trading the shop $18,000 worth of other antique guns and Melancon and his wife Linda spent decades on the trail of discovering the rifle’s backstory.
Then, last November, the FBI came calling and raided the couple’s home, recovering the gun for the rightful owner and returning it in a very public ceremony this week.
“It’s heartbreaking,” Melancon, now 77, told the New Orleans Advocate. “It really is. We got that gun in good faith. And that rifle gained prominence because

Source: Guns.com