Posted February 22, 2018 9:30 am by Comments

By Chris Eger

This S&W once was owned by Turkish officer Ashraf Bey, then picked up by Lawrence of Arabia after a one-sided discussion and later found its way to the UK’s National Army Museum (Photo: NAM)
The UK’s National Army Museum recently announced they have received a historic revolver tied to an iconic British adventurer from World War I.
Born Thomas Edward Lawrence, the famous British Army captain was best known as “Lawrence of Arabia” due to his work in the Ottoman-controlled Middle East during the war as a point man between the British and a number of Arab tribes in a revolt against Constantinople.
The revolver, which looks to be a Smith & Wesson 1st Model Hand Ejector in .44 — the company’s first N-frame, is engraved with the name of Ashraf Bey.
Who? You may ask. This guy:
Ashraf Bey, in American Colony courtyard in Jerusalem, then part of the Ottoman Empire, 1917. (Photo: Library of Congress)
Bey was an Ottoman bigwig that the National Army Museum notes was involved in the Armenian genocide. So historically, not a swell guy. Anyway, as the story goes, Bey was captured by the Lawrence-allied Bedouin forces while escorting a camel convoy that was carrying between £15,000 and £20,000 in

Source: Guns.com

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