UPDATE. Everyone in comments had the idea. The elements: books on China by the American Museum's Roy Chapman Andrews, "Indiana Jones", before he ever got to "outer" Mongolia and its fossils, and his China host, missionary, ornithologist and big game hunter Harry Caldwell. Caldwell hunted almost entirely with Savage 99's in .250 Savage ("250- 3000" for its hitherto unmatched velocity) and .22 Hi- Power, the obsolete cartridge shown here-- he used the 250 on the local elk and shot many tigers, at least one a maneater, with it. Perhaps only the easy confidence of a man of God let him get away with that.
Other objects include Mongolian snuff bottles-- snuff is still popular there, as it was back then, and a little animalier bronze of a tiger by Tiffany. Photo of me with eaglers including the late R Suleiman in Olgii on first Mongolia trip, 1997.
7 comments:
Hmmm. I'm pretty much in the dark here, but maybe others can chime in. The cartridge looks like a .22 High Power, chambered in the 99 Savage lever action, which I believe both Caldwell and R.C. Andrews carried in East Asia, Caldwell killing a whopping great tiger with it.
Caldwell was mentioned in Vaillant's The Tiger.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Tiger-Vengeance-Survival-Departures/dp/0307389049
I reread it last week and forgot how good he as on tiger and huntng psychology. I stumbled over a mint Cdn 1st and made an impulse buy for $9.00.
Caldwell was mentioned in Vaillant's The Tiger.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Tiger-Vengeance-Survival-Departures/dp/0307389049
I reread it last week and forgot how good he as on tiger and huntng psychology. I stumbled over a mint Cdn 1st and made an impulse buy for $9.00.
Caldwell was mentioned in Vaillant's The Tiger.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Tiger-Vengeance-Survival-Departures/dp/0307389049
I stumbled over a mint Cdn 1st, last week, and made an impulse buy. I reread it and forgot how good he was on tiger and hunting psychology.
I'd put the whole bunch of photos in one collage with the title "Boredom"! I also rearrange my toys when nothing much else is going on....And great, ANOTHER somewhat expensive book I'm gonna HAVE to get! At least that "Snow Leopard's Tale" was down to some reasonable peasant prices last time I looked.....Trying to imagine what a blue-morph tiger might look like--I've NEVER come across any photo or even mention of such, tiger aficionado that I have been all my life. Intriguing, to say the least!....L.B.
Reading Charles Gallenkamp's Dragon Hunter, his biography of Andrews, I just discovered that Caldwell invited Andrews to hunt the blue-gray tiger with black stripes with him in Fukien Province in China--unsuccessfully, as it turned out. Hence, of course, the unfired cartridges Steve pictures.
Steve,
I've betrayed that I don't read Q as often as I should, that I haven't commented so far.
.22 High Power it is, a true hot rod of the era. It deserves its place in the history of the centerfire twenty-two caliber (a subject that was first going to be a blog post - now, possibly its own book).
Cheers,
-Nathaniel
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