R.L.WILSON is a freelance consultant and author in the broad fields of Americana, firearms and engraving. His professional career began a half century ago with intern positions at the Royal Armouries, H.M. Tower of London and the Corcoran Gallery of Art (Washington D.C.) as well as at the Wadsworth Atheneum (Museum of Art, Hartford CT) where he was appointed Curator of Firearms at the age of 23. He has served on advisory boards or as consultant to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Colt’s Manufacturing Company, Inc., the Winchester Museum (since the early 1990s known as the Cody Firearms Museum, Buffalo Bill Historical Center), the U.S. Historical Society, Tiffany & Co., and the Autry Museum of Western Heritage (now the Autry National Center of the West).

Wilson was born in Minnesota, the son, nephew and grandson of Presbyterian ministers. His fascination with art, history, firearms, cars and related subjects began as a pre-teenager, in the small town of St. James, Minnesota. The family moved to Minneapolis when he was ten. His time was spent at making models of cars, planes and guns, seeing grade-B Western movies, visiting historic sites and museums, and meeting oldsters who spoke of the good old days. These interests were also fueled by family trips to relatives in the Midwest, and to historic sites such as Mount Vernon, Arlington, Gettysburg, and big cities like New York, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Washington D.C., Memphis, Chicago, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Springfield (Illinois), Des Moines, and Omaha.

Delivering the Minneapolis Star and Tribune newspaper helped to fund his collecting enthusiasms. By the age of 14 he and older brother Jack had a collection of about 75 firearms, ranging from a .22 Remington bolt action clip-fed rifle (gift at age 12 from his parents) to various Civil War and Wild West period revolvers, derringers, rifles, carbines and muskets. Collecting reference books was yet another interest, even the gift of Harold L. Peterson’s pioneering work, American Knives, from the chairman of the History Department at his college.

Wilson studied history and art as a scholarship student at Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota. At present the most published author in the history of arms collecting, Wilson’s professional career was jump-started with Samuel Colt Presents, a 314-page publication of the Wadsworth Atheneum (1961), based on the loan exhibition of the same title, which he organized.

A longtime resident of Connecticut, he is the author of nearly 50 books and more than 325 articles in periodicals, as well as auction catalogues, forewords to the books of others, and monographs. Keenly interested in museums and historic houses since childhood, Wilson has visited over 800 such institutions over the years, ranging from artistic, historical and natural science themes, to country houses and gardens.

Publishers of Wilson’s books include Random House, Simon & Schuster, Ballantine (later Crown) / House of Collectibles, Abbeville Press, the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, the Boone & Crockett Club and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Articles have appeared in numerous publications, including most of the popular firearms-related magazines, as well as Audubon, Sports Afield, True, the French art magazine L’Oiel, Car Collector, and the hardcover automobile magazine, Ferrarisima.

2008, 2009 and 2010 Publications

Wilson’s output continues into the present, with the September 2008, release of the 3^rd edition of the landmark work, The Book of Colt Firearms (originally published 1971, 2^nd edition in 1993). Now a monumental 648-pages and weighing over 7 lbs., the volume was referred to by distinguished antique arms dealer Herb Glass as “the best gun book ever published.” Yet another volume appearing in 2008 is the 124-page The Blue Book Pocket Guide of Colt Dates of Manufacture, a landmark and comprehensive reference work of great value to collectors, dealers, arms enthusiasts and law enforcement agencies and personnel, worldwide.

In December 2009 appeared the long-awaited American Arms Collectors Colt Percussion Revolvers and Their Rivals The Al Cali Collection. This mega-format 200-page volume presents, for the first time, subject firearms in actual size, including cased sets. Text and photographs feature important examples of all major models, and include all significant competition gunmakers to Colonel Samuel Colt: Remington, Manhattan, Metropolitan, the Massachusetts Arms Co., Adams (patent), Allen & Wheelock. Alsop, Cooper, North & Savage, Joslyn, Springfield Arms Co., Union Arms Co., Rogers & Spencer, Freeman, Pettingill, Butterfield, Starr, Walsh, Wesson & Leavitt, and more.

At the same time as American Arms Collectors appeared, the Boone & Crockett Club publication Theodore Roosevelt Hunter-Conservationist was published. This lavish and comprehensive volume of some 350 pages chronicles the extraordinary life of the most dedicated of all hunter-conservationists – who hunted and shot having the highest possible profile of any sportsman in American history. Lionized as one of four Americans on Mt. Rushmore, Roosevelt set a standard of excellence in his sporting and shooting interests and dedications, himself authoring numerous books and articles, and living the “strenuous life.”

Foreword to the Roosevelt book is by John Milius, director of “The Wind and the Lion” and ”Rough Riders,” and an authority on firearms history and Theodore Roosevelt. Boone & Crockett Club President Lowell Baier authored the prologue, as well as a separate section on the birth of the conservation movement, at Roosevelt’s Elkhorn Ranch. The preface by Archibald Roosevelt – the last surviving son of TR – had been written for Wilson’s pioneering earlier book (published by Winchester Press), entitled Theodore Roosevelt Outdoorsman (1971).

Planned for 2010 release is the publication Lock, Stock and Smoking Barrel: A Memoir of a Passion for Arms and Adventure - compiled by Charles F. Priore, Jr., Science Librarian, Carleton College. In the spring of 2003, Wilson’s publications, videos and career in art and antiques were celebrated with a retrospective exhibition held at the Laurence McKinley Gould Memorial Library, at Carleton. An illustrated lecture by Wilson, in the Athenaeum of the library, was part of that event. Lock, Stock and Smoking Barrel evolved from those Carleton College presentations (75% of the text authored by Wilson, with the balance by colleagues and associates).

Earlier Publications Set a Unique Standard in the Field

Wilson’s career received its launch when he was granted a year’s leave of absence from Carleton College, where he was a senior majoring in history, art and art history. This opportunity led to his organizing the international loan exhibition “Samuel Colt Presents” for America’s oldest art museum, the Wadsworth Atheneum (founded 1842). In 1905 Colonel Samuel Colt’s widow, Mrs. Elizabeth Hart Jarvis Colt, had endowed the Colt Wing of the Atheneum, and bequeathed the couples private collection of paintings, sculpture, memorabilia and firearms to the museum. In 1960, Wilson’s summer internship at the Atheneum led to the “Samuel Colt Presents” project.

In organizing “Samuel Colt Presents” the Carleton student worked with Atheneum Director Charles C. Cunningham, and Curators Edward Bryant and Henry P. Maynard. Among lenders to this landmark event were H.M. Queen Elizabeth II (from Windsor Castle), The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History, the West Point Museum, and leading collectors in America and England. Two presentation sets from President Abraham Lincoln to King Frederick VIIth of Denmark and King Charles XVth of Norway and Sweden were lent by Yaegerspris Castle in Denmark and by the Royal Armoury of Stockholm. This was the first and only time these cased sets ever returned to the United States, having been presented by Lincoln in 1863.

The exhibition set an all-time attendance record for the Atheneum, and was featured in articles in Life and True magazines – two of the best-selling and most popular publications of their day. The exhibition also led to Wilson being commissioned to write such landmark books as L.D. Nimschke Firearms Engraver – the first major work ever published on the life and career of an American or European arms engraver – and The Arms Collection of Colonel Colt, published by Herb Glass for the Atheneum.

These three titles later led to a series of volumes on American firearms engraving, which field was pioneered by Wilson. Since 1961 he has identified the work and style of more than 400 American engravers, and has published more original work in this field than all other writers put together.


Philip R. Phillips and Other Patrons

Wilson co-authored the 232-page Paterson Colt Pistol Variations with Philip R. Phillips, whose father and uncle Frank founded Phillips Petroleum. Phil Phillips’ collecting roots began in the 1920s, assisted by his friendship with pioneer author John E. Parsons of New York, and early dealers James E. Serven and the Far West Hobby Shop, both of California. Eventually the P.R. Phillips Collection was willed to the Frank Phillips Foundation’s Woolaroc Museum, Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Over three decades Wilson made numerous trips to Bartlesville, assisting the courtly gentleman, whom he had first met while organizing “Samuel Colt Presents.” Not only assisting Phillips in his collecting enthusiasms, Wilson also co-produced what came to be the first exhaustive book on the Paterson Colt repeating pistols and longarms, as well as on the Patent Arms Manufacturing Co. which built them. Although the book’s title page listed Jackson Arms as publisher, it was Philip R. Phillips who quietly funded the complex project.

A distinct advantage to Wilson’s publishing career have not only been the museums and publishers who have funded his projects, but a number of private collectors whose enthusiasm for arms collecting underwrote innumerable projects. Among these patrons were P.R. Phillips, Herb Glass, R.Q. Sutherland (The Book of Colt Firearms), Texas highway builder R.E. Hable (Colt Pistols), Lilly pharmaceutical heir John B. Solley III and his wife Fern (The Colt Heritage), George A. Strichman (Colt An American Legend), Wallace Beinfeld (the first two Winchester and Colt engraving books), Michael Del Castello (Buffalo Bill’s Wild West), John Amicucci, Martin Lane and Charles Radcliffe (The Colt Engraving Book), Dr. Joseph A. Murphy (Fine Colts), Ugo Gussalli Beretta, William B. Ruger (Ruger & His Guns), Dennis LeVett (The Paterson Colt Book), Robert M. Lee (Yellowstone Press), Greg Martin, and William I. Koch (winner of the 1992 America’s Cup and a consummate collector, including of art and wine). Art dealer and arms enthusiast Alec Wildenstein made possible the publication of a beautifully illustrated article on embellished firearms in the family’s publication, L’Oiel.

In 1962 dealer Herb Glass asked Wilson to write what became the first of more than 1,400 historical letters Wilson has written to date on collectors’ firearms. These letters, funded primarily by arms collectors and dealers, have also helped fuel and underwrite Wilson’s series of research and writing projects. Wilson documenting letters are considered the finest and most refined in the firearms field, sometimes bound in leather, and accompanied by reams of documents and illustrations.

The Landmark Series of Books Begun by The Colt HeritageWilson’s book The Colt Heritage is the only firearms-related work ever nominated for the American Book Awards (1979). That title, later re-issued in an expanded edition as Colt An American Legend (both titles recognized as the official history of Colt firearms), was hailed by publisher/author Michael Korda as "a classic. . . the most beautiful book on firearms ever published and a milestone in modern book design and production." The Colt Heritage was also Wilson’s first book with a mainstream New York publishing house – fulfilling a dream that few writers ever attain.

In promotion of the Legend book (1985), art book publisher Abbeville Press organized a two-week, seven-city author's tour during which Wilson made over 35 radio and television appearances, newspaper interviews, and bookstore signings. Over 200,000 copies of these two Colt titles are in print, in four languages. A book tour is also something which few authors will ever experience.

These Colt titles began a series of firearms books of like style and design, on a variety of subjects, suggested by Wilson’s long-time agent, Peter Riva, whose firm International Transactions has guided Wilson’s career since 1990.

Next in the landscape blockbuster series was Winchester An American Legend, appearing in 1991 (50,000 copies in the first edition) - the official history of Winchester firearms and ammunition. Marketing of this new title included appearances by the author in the Winchester booths at the 1992 National Rifle Association Annual Meetings and Convention and at the Winchester’s international exhibition at IWA (International Weapons and Ammunition show), Nuremburg, Germany.

The Peacemakers Arms and Adventure in the American West appeared in 1992 and was honored with a Wrangler in the National Cowboy Hall of Fame’s annual Western Heritage Awards program (1993) – the Western Americana equivalent of winning an Oscar. The Peacemakers was the basis for the segment “The Guns That Tamed the West” in the highly acclaimed History Channel series hosted by Kenny Rogers: “The Real West.”

Next in the series was Steel Canvas, The Art of American Arms, a work of unprecedented breadth and scope, chronicling a saga of fine guns, art, design and craftsmanship worthy of display at major art museums around the U.S. A thorough understanding of the unique role of firearms in American decorative arts had convinced philanthropist Stanley Diefenthal, of New Orleans, to organize the funding of a major retrospective traveling museum exhibition. Diefenthal’s tragic death put the exhibition on hold, and Wilson decided to go ahead with the American edition of the book. The foreword to Steel Canvas was authored by William R. Chaney, Chairman, Tiffany & Co., himself an arms enthusiast.

Colt An American Legend, Winchester An American Legend, The Peacemakers and Steel Canvas have been published in foreign language editions: generally in Italian, French and German. Their oblong format, clean design and thorough scholarship have set high standards for quality in the publication of firearms books - and have garnered a following among book collectors.

Additional Titles Including Two More Official Company Histories

1996 marked the publication of Wilson’s Ruger and His Guns: a History of the Man, the Company and Their Firearms, the official book of Sturm, Ruger & Co., and its founder, William B. Ruger, Sr. Buffalo Bill’s Wild West (with Greg Martin) joined the series in the fall of 1998. This lavish salute to Cody and his Wild West featured a center section composed of firearms and memorabilia from the Autry Museum of Western Heritage and the Buffalo Bill Historical Center collections. In 1999, Buffalo Bill’s Wild West was also honored with a Wrangler award.

Wilson’s next title in the oblong or “landscape” format was The World of Beretta, An International Legend from Random House - in the fall of 2000. This official volume on the historic, nearly 500-year old Italian gunmaker and manufacturer appeared in French and Italian, in 2001.

In the year 2002 the profusely illustrated and highly detailed The Paterson Colt Book appeared, featuring the Dennis A. LeVett Collection. Beretta and Paterson were the eighth and ninth volumes in Wilson’s series of landscape, exquisitely designed and manufactured books on firearms.

Next, appearing , fall 2003, was Silk & Steel Women at Arms, a comprehensive history of women in the world of firearms - a field all-too-often thought of as exclusively the domain of men. In time, this pioneering work will be accompanied by a traveling exhibition, organized under auspices of the Rosenbruch Wildlife Heritage Museum (St. George UT) in association with other conservation and/or historically-oriented institutions.

Riva Production’s “Annie Oakley” one-hour television documentary was released in May 2006, on PBS’ American Experience. This in-depth study of the most high profile lady shooter in history featured Wilson as one of the interviewed experts. Planned for future release is a six-part TV documentary on women and firearms, based on Silk & Steel and its traveling museum exhibition.

Yet another title, in an entirely different format, was released in the winter of 1998: The Official Price Guide to Gun Collecting. This 468-page reference work became an annual, commencing with the fall of 1999. Temporarily out of print, Wilson intends to revive this title as time permits.

Also appearing in the fall of 1999 was the 264-page Fine Colts The Dr. Joseph A. Murphy Collection, followed by the 1,000-page opus The Colt Engraving Book (volume I, fall 2000; volume II, fall 2001). The latter title evolved from the previously published The Book of Colt Engraving and Colt Engraving volumes, in 1974 and 1982, respectively. These four books represent by far the most detailed study of engraving in the long history of the Colt company – the oldest manufacturer of repeating firearms in the world.

Meeting Celebrities as His Career Advanced

From the very beginning, Wilson learned that a number of famous individuals were dedicated to the hobby of arms collecting. This was brought home to him not only in reading regularly every firearms-related magazine he could lay his hands on as a pre-teenager in Minnesota, but from his experience as intern at three major museums, as well as organizing the “Samucl Colt Presents” exhibition, and authoring the catalogue.

While at the Atheneum, Life magazine staff photographer Eliot Elisofon came, at the behest of his neighbor at Bar Harbor, Maine – where they summered – Charles C. Cunningham, the museum’s director. When Wilson met Elisofon, the famed photographer spoke about compiling a book on celebrity homes in Hollywood, his work as an abstract artist, his life in New York and traveling the world, and of his friendship with Michael Rockefeller (who had then disappeared in the South Pacific).

Elisofon commissioned Wilson to design and make carefully formed wooden pegs, to use in supporting the firearms over the backgrounds chosen for most of his series of photographs. The resulting article, “Sam Colt’s Presentations,” was 13-pages long, and was the best advertising the company ever received in what was then a major U.S. publication.

Next came another well-connected and influential writer and photographer, Sid Latham, of True magazine – a Fawcett publication which was the most popular periodical for men, featuring articles on cars, firearms, and numerous other male-oriented themes. Latham’s article, of a dozen pages, pictured several of the most exceptional Colts from the exhibition. Featured on the front cover was the elaborately gold-inlaid presentation set of Model 1860 Army Colts, made for presentation by President Lincoln to the King of Sweden and Norway.

Apprenticeship Under Famed Antique Arms Dealer Herb Glass

The “Samuel Colt Presents” exhibition and book inspired Herb Glass, the leading antique arms dealer in the world at that time, to hire Wilson for numerous research assignments. Among the most important of these commissions were a brochure Theodore Roosevelt’s Colt .44-40 Six-Shooter, and displays of that revolver, its holster and a pair of TR spurs and the celebrated cased and gold inlaid Third Model Dragoon revolver presented by Colonel Samuel Colt to the Sultan of Turkey. That magnificent set would later become the most prized object in the Robert M. Lee Galleries of American Arms, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Presentation of that set to the Metropolitan Museum was spearheaded by Wilson’s encouraging the owners, George and Butonne Repaire, to make the set available to the Museum.

Glass was also instrumental in Wilson’s volunteering for the U.S. Army Reserve, in which he served from 1963 to 1969, with his basic training at Fort Dix, New Jersey. When Wilson completed his six-months of initial training and service, he went straight to the Colt factory in Hartford, where he was hired as a management trainee, later promoted to Assistant Manager, Public Relations and Advertising. Among his many assignments over the next 18-months was acting as Colt’s representative to the Abercrombie & Fitch Company Gun Fairs, traveling to the A & F stores in San Francisco, Chicago and New York, during the fall of 1965. There he attended opening night parties, and had the pleasure of seeing such dignitaries as Shelley Winters and actor Robert Wagner come through the Gun Department, then the top emporium for fine guns in the United States.

More High Profile Gun Enthusiasts, and Others, Met Along the Way

As part of his experiences with Colt’s and later with Christie’s, Ruger, Winchester and Beretta, Wilson met such figures as Mel Torme, Buddy Hackett, Jerry Lewis, Johnny Cash, Cliff Robertson, General Matthew Ridgeway (a member of Colt Industries’ Board of Directors), Ted Nugent, Johnny Cash, Generals H. Norman Schwarzkopf and Tommy Franks, and a string of well-to-do collectors and gun collectors the likes of Rothschilds, Mellons, Phillips’s and Fords.

Wilson also met the world’s foremost art dealers, Alec and Guy Wildenstein, and several times went hunting with them in Mexico (and once met the legendary family patriarch, Guy and Alec’s father, Daniel). Among the artists Wilson met were the likes of sculptor David Smith, abstract expressionist painter and chronicler of the West Harry Jackson, sculptor Ed Fraughton and numerous others. The Wadsworth Atheneum held the first major retrospective of the abstract expressionists while Wilson was interning at the museum. Among art collectors Wilson has got to know are William I. Koch, Ronald Lauder, and cartoonist Charles Addams (creator of the Addams Family) – a keen collector of crossbows and armor.

Wilson worked with photographer Peter Beard on six book projects, and in various other capacities met and/or worked with such luminaries in the photography world as Ormond Gigli, Sid Latham and Eliot Elisofon. Among media personalities he met were Morley Safer (President of the Ferrari Club of Hadlyme, of which Wilson was a founder and Secretary), Art Linkletter, singing cowboys Gene Autry, Roy Rogers and Monty Hale, and film stars Jimmy Stewart and Katharine Hepburn. Among the business tycoons – some of them collector/clients - were William E. Simon, Hunting World founder Bob Lee, clothing designers Ralph Lauren and bijan, Chanel Chairman Alan Wertheimer, Hermes heir Patrick Guerrand-Hermes, and The New York Times publisher A.O. Sulzberger.

Among sports figures have been numerous racing champions, among them World’s Formula 1 Champions Jackie Stewart and Phil Hill, Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Rahal, all-time racing champion Sir Stirling Moss, and Ferrari importers-North American Racing Team (NART) owners Luigi Chinneti, Sr. and Jr., Wilson’s regular hunting sidekick for many years was the late Jack LeGoff, for many years three-day eventing coach of the U.S. Equestrian Team and himself an Olympic champion. Publisher of Theodore Roosevelt Outdoorsman was Winchester Press’ William Steinkruas, for years Chairman, U.S.E.T., and winner of the gold medal in the 1964 Olympics, Mexico City. Basketball star Kareem Abdul Jabar has many of Wilson’s books, and letters by him on selected antique arms.

Wilson was commissioned by Colt Industries Chairman George A. Strichman to build gold inlaid revolvers for Soviet Union Chairman Leonid Brezhnev, for publisher Malcolm Forbes and for the original talk show host, Barry Gray (WMCA, New York). Gray, who interviewed more than 10,000 celebrities over his 40-year career, began collecting Colt Single Action Army revolvers after having Wilson on his show to discuss The Colt Heritage. They became fast friends, and Gray became an advocate on behalf of firearms ownership (and collecting), inviting Wilson back for further appearances, as well as other firearms enthusiasts, often brought to Gray’s attention by Wilson. Present that day for the presentation cased Colt Python to Gray was Colt Industries’ President, David Margolis, who would eventually be involved in sale of the Colt Industries’ arms collection to the Autry Museum.

From the world of food, Wilson met Martha Stewart and Jacques Pepin, and a string of celebrity chefs, including Wayne Nish, Michael Mina, Bradley Ogden, and the famed chef Paul Bocuse, of Lyons, France.

Among politicians Wilson met were Presidents Gerald R. Ford (who had lunch at Wilson’s home in Connecticut) and George H.W. Bush, and various U.S. Senators (most conspicuously the multi-talented Al Simpson of Wyoming), Attorney General and later U.S. Ambassador to India William Saxbe, and Mayor John Lindsay of New York. Among royalty Wilson not only met King Hussein of Jordan, but delivered a dozen gold inlaid Colt Python revolvers to His Majesty. These had been commissioned to be embellished by Wilson’s American Master Engravers, for friends of the King, including King Juan Carlos of Spain, and Anwar Sadat, President of Egypt. The delivery of the first dozen deluxe revolvers was to His Majesty, then staying at Blair House as a guest of the President. Yet another royal was the elegant Prince Abdul Rezah, brother of the Shah of Iran, and a keen hunter and sportsman. That introduction was via Bob Lee, who was a longtime friend of the Prince, and hunted with him in Africa, Iran and other sites around the world.

Wilson was honored by the contribution of the foreword to his Silk & Steel Women at Arms book, by Her Grace, The Duchess of Northumberland. He was equally delighted when Archibald Roosevelt (last surviving son of TR) contributed the preface to Theodore Roosevelt Outdoorsman (1971). Among other special forewords was that of George Strichman, for The Colt Heritage, and that of Tiffany & Co. Chairman William R. Chaney for Steel Canvas. John Milius’ foreword to Theodore Roosevelt Hunter-Conservationist captured the dynamic spirit and heroic achievements of the inimitable TR Among special forewords to the forthcoming Lock, Stock & Smoking Barrel book are those by Peter Beard, Alec Wildenstein, antiquarian Norm Flayderman, retired Royal Armouries Director Guy Wilson, Bob Lee, and MIT Professor Merritt Roe Smith.

A letter to Wilson from Katharine Hepburn graces the front material to Lock, Stock and Smoking Barrel, sent in thanks for an afternoon spent at Wilson’s Hadlyme home. Meeting actor Richard Farnsworth (also a gun collector) at one of the National Cowboy Hall of Fame “Wrangler” awards dinner was a treat – especially in learning that Farnsworth was the purchaser of three of the Autry Museum gala Colt Single Action Army deluxe revolvers – all of them decorated by Wilson’s American Master Engravers, by Alvin White, assisted by Andrew Bourbon, on order of the museum.

The Art of the Gun Five-Volume Cased Set from Yellowstone Press

In 2002/2003 a five-volume series of mini-books appeared, under the general title The Art of the Gun. Published by Yellowstone Press, and co-authored by collector-conservationist Robert M. Lee, the 6- by 5-inch oblong format books covered the subjects of Colt, Winchester, and antique European and modern sporting arms, with an introductory overview as the first volume. Each of these richly illustrated books featured several thousand words of text, and approximately 75 color illustrations, each with landscape style foldouts. An unusual and colorful innovation was the printing of dramatic cased sets on the reverse of the dust jackets. The series was issued in a beautiful case termed by Bob Lee as “crystal acrylic.”

For 2009, a profusely illustrated calendar, “The Art of the Gun,” was issued by Sporting Classics magazine, based on the five-volume mini-book cased set, using selections of images and text. This 17- x 13 1/4-inch landscape sized publication has been termed the “most beautiful firearms-related calendar ever published.” The spectacular collector’s item was created principally by Anne Brockinton, designer of “The Art of the Gun” series, with photographs by David Wesbrook. The joint collaboration confirms in words and images why fine guns are so widely recognized as an art form, with a tradition dating back centuries.

Both the five-volume set and the calendar, and the larger multi-mega-volume set, from Yellowstone Press and Bob Lee, were featured in the most spectacular issue ever of Sporting Classics, in the lengthy article with foldout pages, “The Art of the Gun,” by R.L. Wilson (May-June 2004).

These publications are the precursor of the forthcoming multi-volume series on the art of the gun, of which Magnificent Colts Featuring the Robert M. Lee Collection will be the initial publication – co-authored with Robert M. Lee. The 500-page tome, measuring 11- x 14-inches, in landscape format, will present the most exquisite design and production of any firearms-related book ever published. A major innovation is accompanying the work by a DVD with film interviews, added images and information, and more data than has ever appeared in any major firearms book project. Release of the first volume is planned to coincide with the National Rifle Association Annual Meetings and Convention, in the spring of 2010.

Forewords to the Works of Others

Wilson has also authored forewords to several books by other writers. Among those volumes are: Elephants, Ivory and Hunters, by Tony Sanchez-Arino, Colonel Colt, London, by Joseph G. Rosa, Colt Blackpowder Replica Firearms, by Dennis Adler, and the twin titles The History of Winchester Firearms and The History of Colt Firearms by then President of The Armor and Arms Club of New York, Dean Boorman.

Two new titles appearing in 2008 also have forewords by Wilson: Blackpowder Revolvers - Reproductions & Replicas, by Dennis Adler, and a lavish work on Firmo Fracassi Master Engraver, both titles from Blue Book Publications, edited by Steven Fjestad.

Exhibitions at the National Firearms Museum, “Ruger & His Guns” (2000) and “The World of Beretta” (2001) featured forewords by Wilson in the accompanying catalogues. Now in the works is Wilson’s essay on John Bianchi and the Autry Museum of Western Heritage, as a special sidebar for Dennis Adler’s forthcoming book on Bianchi, his career and creation of the Bianchi line of holsters and related accessories.

In addition to writing books, catalogues, monographs, forewords and articles, Wilson has been consultant on American arms to the historic international auction house, Christie’s. Beginning with organizing the Colt/Christie’s sale of October 1981, Wilson went on to putting together The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Arms and Armor Department benefit auction of October 1985 - as well as nearly twenty other sales. Several of these events were milestones in the history of arms collecting, setting record prices for American firearms and launching the current popularity of the firearms auction venue. He is presently engaged as a cataloguer for the firm of Greg Martin Auctions, of San Francisco and Irvine, California, widely recognized as a premier operation in the firearms field worldwide. Greg Martin Auctions is a division of the multi-faceted international auction house, Spectrum.

Wilson has been the subject of (or noted in) articles in a variety of newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, M, The Chicago Tribune, Newsday, Business Week, The Houston Chronicle, Esquire, Art and Antiques, Robb Report, Forbes, Connoisseur, Forbes FYI, Vanity Fair and Town & Country. For Christmas 1999, “The Today Show” - Gene Shalit - featured Buffalo Bill’s Wild West. The lengthy March 26, 2004 feature article, “Pistol Packin’ Mamas” in the San Francisco Chronicle, can be accessed by its link to Wilson’s website, wilsonbooks.com.

Radio and Television Appearances

Wilson has appeared frequently on radio and television, and these national and international programs include: A & E’s “The Story of the Gun” and “The Guns That Tamed the West” (an episode in The Real West, hosted by Kenny Rogers); various episodes in the History Channel’s “Tales of the Gun”, and the “High Tech West,” the Discovery Channel’s “Gunpower” and “The Gunfighters”; the PBS Frontline documentary “Gunfight USA”; PBS’ American Experience “Annie Oakley,” CNN’s “Pinnacle” (on William B. Ruger, Sr.), “Business Unusual” (on Beretta) and a CNN profile of Wilson produced by David Saltman. Yet other appearances are on CNN’s “Business Day”; “Good Morning Australia”; “The Barry Gray Show” (New York); documentaries on Japan Broadcasting TV and on Channel 4 (London), including “A Walk Up Fifth Avenue” based on the book by Bernard Levin.

The BBC Open University produced the documentary “The Gun Industry in America,” narrated by Wilson and featuring him on-screen. And the BBC co-produced with Sony Video Software “Son of a Gun or How Sam Colt Changed America.” This one-hour special celebrated the 150^th Anniversary of the founding of Colt firearms, in 1836, and was first broadcast on the BBC, January 1^st 1986.

Wilson was scriptwriter for the Sony Video Software presentation “Colt Firearms Legends” (narrated by Mel Tormé). In the $2.25 million feature length film and video on conservation, hunting and the African safari, “In the Blood” Wilson was one of the stars, as well as co-executive producer. Producer/Director of “In the Blood” was George Butler, whose film “Pumping Iron” was instrumental in Arnold Schwarzenegger achieving stardom, in film and, subsequently, politics.

Wilson’s co-executive producer for “In the Blood” (and an investor in the project as well) was the Hon. William E. Simon, former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and first U.S. Energy Czar. Simon, a keen sportsman and arms collector, was owner of the celebrated Theodore Roosevelt Holland & Holland double rifle, carried by the President on his historic 11-month 1909-10 safari to East Africa. Years later Wilson was instrumental in finding a museum home for the rifle, and published it extensively in his Theodore Roosevelt Outdoorsman and Theodore Roosevelt Hunter-Conservationist landmark books, on TR as history’s most accomplished conservationist-outdoorsman.

Additional Films and Videos

As president of Castle View Productions, Wilson produced “Mille Miglia: The Most Beautiful Race in the World” (1995). His appearance in the Riva Productions’ “Annie Oakley” (produced and directed by documentary filmmaker Riva Freifeld) was referenced earlier. He appears in yet another documentary on automobile racing, “32 Hours 7 Minutes An Outlaw Race,” covering the 1983 U.S. Express (usually called “Cannonball”) race, in which he participated as co-driver in a 308 GTB Ferrari. This historic competition set the U.S. transcontinental speed record (NYC to Newport Beach CA), a feat that will never be repeated. Release for “32 Hours 7 Minutes” is set for 2010. The completed production, by Cory Welles of Gravid Films, Inc., is scheduled for film festivals preceding theatrical release.

Appraiser and Consultant of Rare Arms

As an appraiser of rare firearms, Wilson’s clients have included P.R. Phillips, Gene Autry, Monte Hale, Mel Tormé, William B. Ruger, Sr. and Jr., the Hon. William E. Simon, Sr., various members of the Lilly, Ford, Mellon and Deering families, the Sagamore Hill Historic Site, the Theodore Roosevelt National Park, the Autry Museum of Western Heritage (now the Autry National Center of the West), the Art Institute of Chicago, the Buffalo Bill Museum, the Wadsworth Atheneum, the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Center and the Texas Ranger Museum. He was a consultant to the Wadsworth Atheneum on the lavish exhibition, “Sam and Elizabeth: Legend and Legacy of Colt’s Empire” (September 1996 to March 1997), and to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts 2005 exhibition, “Things I Love: The Many Collections of William I. Koch.” Wilson authored the chapter in that exhibition’s catalogue/book devoted to Koch’s arms collection and American Indian weaponry and artifacts.

Wilson was also consultant to and authored the forewords to the National Firearms Museum (Fairfax VA) for its exhibitions “Ruger and His Guns” (March to December 2000) and “The World of Beretta” (April 1-December 31, 2001). He was also instrumental in garnering landmark donations of $1,000,000 each from William B. Ruger, Sr. and from Beretta to the National Firearms Museum. The donation of a Theodore Roosevelt FN automatic pistol to the NFM, from a direct descendent of TR, was also the result of involvement by Wilson.

The R.L. Wilson Educational Fund, in the NRA Endowment program, was one of the first to be established, inspired by the leadership of the late John Riner Woods, founder and first NRA Foundation president. The fund was created to assist in support of the National Firearms Museum, to which Wilson received an appointment as Honorary Consulting Curator, in 2000.

Establishing the Colt Industries Museum Collection & Selling Fine Guns

In collaboration with George A. Strichman, late Chairman of the Board of Colt Industries, Wilson organized the Colt Industries Museum Collection (1972-85), as well as Chairman Strichman’s own 170-piece Colt collection. Both arms groups are now featured exhibits at the Autry National Center of the West – comprising the finest and best balanced museum collection of Colt firearms in the world.

In the process of quietly building private and museum arms collections, Wilson has handled historic firearms belonging to U.S. Presidents the likes of Franklin Pierce, Theodore Roosevelt, Grover Cleveland and Dwight D. Eisenhower, pistols of Marlene Dietrich (presents from prominent U.S. and foreign generals), guns of Chuck Connors (“The Rifleman”), handguns of Bat Masterson, Doc Holliday (used by him at the O.K. Corral), Jesse and Frank James, Gene Autry, Charles Lindbergh, Ernest Hemingway, Winchesters of Buffalo Bill Cody, guns of Captain Jack Crawford, handguns and longarms of Annie Oakley, a pair of Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer’s Smith & Wessons.

Feeling that certain firearms should be in the hands of public institutions, in 1995, Wilson was instrumental in persuading the then owners of the Sultan of Turkey Colt Dragoon, George and Butonne Repaire, to present this national treasure to The Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was Wilson who had discovered this most prized of Colt revolvers in any American museum, in the late 1960s.

Engraving and Appraisals, for Private Collectors, Museums and Private Collectors

When completing his 18 months of working at the Colt factory, Wilson was hired by Herb Glass as Managing Director of A.A. White Engravers, Inc., and became a freelance author and researcher in the firearms field. From 1966 through 2001 he remained based in Connecticut, traveling extensively throughout the U.S. and Europe, as well as to several countries in Africa, to the Middle East, India, Thailand, Hong Kong, mainland China, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan, developing several interests and opportunities.

Due to differences with Glass on the future of the engraving company, A.A. White Engravers, Inc., ceased to exist c. 1973. The engravers having resigned from the organization, they soon found that operating on their own, without a manager and recruiter of projects, was posing cash-flow problems. Wilson then established his own operation, known as American Master Engravers. Until entering into bankruptcy in 2001, he kept the business going, despite the stroke which incapacitated Alvin White in the mid-1980's.

In 2001 Wilson moved to San Francisco, and became a California resident. The difficulty of carrying on a firearms business in that city made closing down of American Master Engravers, and the relinquishing of his various firearms licenses, inevitable. Among the licenses held had been carry permits in Connecticut and (for 12 years) in New York City, a federal dealer’s license, a federal firearms manufacturer’s license (for the engraving business), and a dealer’s license in his local community in Connecticut.

While operating the engraving business, a major opportunity developed in writing detailed appraisals for private collectors, dealers, museums and manufacturers. Among clients were the Colt factory’s “Archives Collection,” the Buffalo Bill Historical Center’s Buffalo Bill Museum, as well as the BBHC in determining whether or not that institution should accept the donation of the Winchester Gun Museum. Among other institutional clients were the Wadsworth Atheneum, the Explorer’s Club (New York), and various donors to the Autry National Center of the West, the Kansas State Historical Society (where he was appointed Honorary Curator of Firearms under the directorship of Joseph G. Snell), the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Center, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Speaker and Various Affiliations

Wilson is past president (1989-1995) of The Armor and Arms Club of New York (founded in 1921). He has also served on the board of directors of the National Firearms Museum in Fairfax, Virginia, and the board of the Eli Whitney Museum in New Haven, Connecticut. He was appointed among the early directors of The Frazier Historical Arms Museum (later resigning to facilitate his acting as an appraiser for that institution).

Wilson has spoken on fine arms and related subjects to The Connecticut Historical Society, the Boone and Crockett Club, the Australian Arms Collectors Society, the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, The Armor and Arms Club of New York, The Rotary Club of Brescia (Italy), The Mzuri-Safari Foundation (San Francisco), The New York/Tri-State Chapter of Safari Club International and to numerous other groups, as well as to private clubs.

Specialist in Engraving for Private Collectors and Gunmakers

Beginning in 1966 as Managing Director for A.A. White Engravers, Wilson was managing director of the major U.S. supplier of firearms engraving for the industry and for private individuals, until his retirement from that business in 2001. Among clients served by the firm, later reorganized as American Master Engravers, were the Colt company, Winchester, Marlin, Sturm, Ruger & Co., Charter Arms, and Smith & Wesson. Yet another client for numerous projects was the U.S. Historical Society, the firearms division of which later became America Remembers. Among private parties were some of America’s foremost collectors and sportsmen. Among the prominent engravers included within the atelier were Alvin A. White, Andrew Bourbon and John Adams, with commissions also performed by Leonard Francolini, Ken Hunt, Paul Lantuch, Rene Delcour, Philippe Grifnee, Frank Hendricks, and over 25 other gifted artisans.

In 2008 Wilson was honored with the opportunity to author the foreword to the privately published The Eaton-Churchill Colt .45, a 150-page study of the finest gold inlaid and engraved Single Action Army Colt revolver embellished in the long career of Winston G. Churchill. A protégé of Griffin & Howe master engraver Joseph Fugger, Churchill’s specialty has been creating magnificent firearms and related works of art for an exclusive clientele. Publisher and patron of the Colt .45 project was Hugh Eaton, III, a distinguished collector of fine sporting art and guns, and a keen aficionado of the exquisite creations of Churchill.

Several masterpiece firearms were completed in Wilson’s 34 years in the engraving business - many of them featured in such works as Steel Canvas and in his Colt and Winchester engraving texts. Several commissions were undertaken on behalf of Tiffany & Co. (including for Gene Autry), as well as specialty presentation arms for the Colt company, and for George A. Strichman, Chairman of the Board, Colt Industries, and C.E. Warner, President.

Among the most distinguished of these commissions was the Single Action Army Special donated by Colt Industries to the 1985 Benefit Auction of Christie’s, raising funds for renovations to the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Arms and Armor Galleries. That superb creation, embellished by Alvin A. White and cased by Arno Werner Bookbinders, was the star of the October 8^th 1985 sale at Christie’s Park Avenue galleries. Prior to the auction, Wilson, accompanied by Metropolitan curatorial staff members Helmut Nickel and Stuart Pyhrr, brought the revolver to the office of Museum Director Philippe de Montebello – who was enchanted by the exquisite object of art.

Wilson not only spearheaded the design concepts for most of these complicated and beautifully rendered firearms, but he worked closely with the companies, particularly at Colt’s (with Al DeJohn of the Custom Shop and with George Strichman for his personal collection), and with William B. Ruger, co-founder and Chairman of Sturm, Ruger & Co.

Among celebrities for whom special guns were built were Prince Abdol Reza of Iran, Chairman Leonid Brezhnev of Russia, the actor Slim Pickens, Senator Lloyd Bentsen, Treasury Secretary William E. Simon, Texas millionaire Larry Sheerin, Gene Autry, the Autry Museum of Western Heritage (featured Colt Single Action Revolver at the annual gala fund-raising dinner), and presentation Colt revolvers built for Presidents Johnson, Reagan, Ford and Nixon.

Buffalo Bill’s Wild West – Book and Museum Exhibitions

In connection with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West, Wilson and co-author Greg Martin (with collector Michael Del Costello) assisted in producing the Royal Armouries Museum major blockbuster exhibition of “Buffalo Bill’s Wild West”, at that institution’s $100 million site in Leeds, England. From the initial presentation in the summer of 1999, the collection was featured in special loan exhibitions at the Autry Museum of Western Heritage (Los Angeles), the Colorado Historical Society (Denver) and the Tennessee State Museum (Nashville). Gala openings were held at each site, and the show ran for approximately two years. Arriving back in the U.S., exhausted from a business trip to Europe, Wilson took a nap prior to the Autry Museum opening – and woke up an hour after the affair had ended!

An exhibition had been planned to accompany the release of the author’s Silk & Steel Women at Arms, but the actions of the founder of the Frazier Museum of Historical Arms not only torpedoed that exhibition, but deprived the author of some five years of productivity – while he fought wrongfully-brought charges involving that institution, based on claims by its founder.

At a federal trial in Louisville, Kentucky (home of the museum’s founder), which lasted nearly seven weeks, Wilson was completely exonerated: the government’s claims in a charge of “conspiracy” was dismissed by the federal trial judge, Charles Simpson, III. The two remaining charges, claiming improprieties in two appraisals, were dealt with by the jury finding Wilson innocent. An earlier incident, involving a Colt Paterson revolver resulted in Wilson foolishly taking a plea in federal court, and serving a 10 1/2 month sentence at Lompoc (CA) Federal Camp, in 2006. Wilson realized soon after taking the plea that he would have likely been victorious had he demanded a trial. Gavin Lentz, a Philadelphia-based trial lawyer fully aware of the case, advised Wilson he had made a mistake, and attempted to have the plea reversed – but learned on discussing the matter with Wilson’s lawyer, that the die had been cast. After paying restitution for a period of three years, Wilson was informed that the plaintiffs in the Paterson case had broken federal laws by collecting restitution from two others parties involved in the case – but continuing to collect from Wilson. A complaint filed to reverse the court-ordered restitution is now working its way through federal court.

The U.S. Historical Society and America Remembers

On the death of Merrill K. Lindsay, author and founder of the Eli Whitney Museum of Invention, Whitneyville, Connecticut, U.S. Historical Society President Robert Kline appointed Wilson as Chairman of the Society. Founded by Kline in 1961 to honor the Centennial of the Civil War, the Society became the foremost manufacturer in the world of commemorative issue firearms and related artifacts, though later branching out into other themes, including historic dolls. Among the Society’s issues were silver-mounted pistols of George Washington, a pair of brass-barrel pocket pistols of Thomas Jefferson, silver-mounted derringers authorized by descendants of Henry Deringer, and numerous projects with several museums, the Colt factory, and the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame.

Wilson served as Chairman of the U.S. Historical Society’s Advisory Committee for several years, and continued in that capacity when the Society’s firearms division was acquired by Paul Warden, then operating as America Remembers. In 2005 Wilson retired as Chairman, and the organization continued without naming a successor.

Assisting the Royal Armouries Museum to Find a U.S. Satellite

Working with Guy Wilson, then Master of the Armouries, H.M. Tower of London and Director, Royal Armouries Museum, Wilson devoted more than fifteen years from the mid-1980s in a complex and multifaceted project of seeking a satellite museum for the Armouries, in the United States. The selection, on Wilson’s recommendation, was made with the opening in 2004 of the Frazier Museum of Historical Arms (later changed to Frazier International History Museum). To quote Forbes magazine (December 25, 2006): “Wilson made many trips to Louisville to advise on acquisitions and plans for the museum. He introduced Frazier to the head of the British Royal Armories – the U.K. museum dedicated to arms and armor; now, thanks to Wilson, the third floor of Frazier’s museum contains the Royal Armories’ only U.S. outpost.”

Further, it was Wilson who obtained on behalf of the museum the most important sporting rifle in the world: Theodore Roosevelt’s Holland & Holland .500/.450 double barrel rifle, the “Big Stick” of TR’s 1909-10 safari to East Africa. That rifle is the most important of all the firearms and artifacts exhibited at the Frazier Museum. A glowing testimonial letter from Guy Wilson states the significance of R.L. Wilson’s contributions to this joint venture on behalf of the Royal collections of H.M. Queen Elizabeth II, and towards British-American relations.

The Arms of Tiffany & Co. – A Work in Progress

Still another project is an exhibition, book and video The Arms of Tiffany & Co. in collaboration with former Tiffany & Co. archivist Janet Zapata. Other planned projects include Firesticks and Tomahawks The Arms of the American Indian and The Guns of Manhattan - both part of his history of firearms landscape mega-volume series. Discussions have also been proposed for a series of spectacular books celebrating the arms rarities in the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History. A proposed history of firearms for PBS is presently being developed, a joint-project with Guy Wilson, retired Master of the Armouries, H.M. Tower of London and Director, Royal Armouries Museum – who is presently chairman of the International Association of Museums of Arms and Military History.

Certain of Wilson’s additional works in progress are noted in the website, wilsonbooks.com.

Hunting and Conservation

A keen sportsman, Wilson has pursued game shooting in England, Scotland, France, Spain, Belgium, Italy, Australia, India, Africa, and extensively in the Western Hemisphere, including three trips to Alaska. He has been on nine African safaris, and has taken over 250 head of big game, since his first safari, in Zambia, in 1970: followed by expeditions to Kenya (1974 and later on a half dozen occasions to the private ranch, Ol Jogi, of the Wildenstein family), Tanzania, Botswana, Central African Republic and Ethiopia. His African trips include three in connection with filming for the documentary, “In the Blood.” The first safari, in Zambia, was undertaken as research for the book, Theodore Roosevelt Outdoorsman.

The previously noted R.L. Wilson Educational Endowment was established with the non-profit NRA Foundation, a fund that continues to grow annually (prior to the recent financial meltdown the sum totaled in excess of $100,00). He is also a donor to the National Firearms Museum, and the sponsor of a special display on “The Shot Heard Round the World.”

In the 1980s Wilson was appointed Chairman of the National Foundation for Firearms Education, headquartered in New York City. Among members of the Foundation board were Michael Korda, Roy Innis (Chairman of CORE), Les Line (conservationist, former Editor, Aubudon Magazine), and President Mark K. Benenson (former Chairman, Amnesty International, USA).

The Tarassuk Appeal Instrumental in the Rescue of Russian Family from Soviet Oppression

In 1972 Wilson became chairman of the U.S. office of the Tarassuk Appeal, devoting six solid months in that year and in 1973, promoting efforts to win exit visas from the Soviet Union for Dr. and Mrs. Leonid Tarassuk (formerly Curator of Arms and Armor, The Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg), their two children, and Tarassuk’s mother. Nearly two years later the Tarassuks were finally allowed to leave, the campaign in the U.S. and Europe having been instrumental in gaining their freedom.

Later Tarassuk and Wilson co-authored “The Russian Colts” (1979), a lavishly illustrated monograph based on sixteen extraordinary presentation Colt firearms in The Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, then on loan to The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The loan was achieved through the joint efforts of George A. Strichman, then Chairman of Colt Industries, and Wilson (who had first visited Russia to see those firearms, during the Cold War, in 1967, and again in 1968).

In the mid-1990s, philanthropist and arms collector Robert M. Lee funded the loan of five rare Colt presentation revolvers from The Hermitage Museum to the William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, Storrs. These rare artifacts were personally delivered to the United States by Yuri Miller, Arms and Armor Curator of The Hermitage, and later returned to Russia by Miller. The loan offered the opportunity to study and photograph the revolvers, which would later be featured in Wilson’s two-volume, 1,000 page, The Colt Engraving Book.

Later the mate to the Czar Nicholas I gold inlaid Colt Third Model Dragoon revolver – known to collectors as the “Sultan of Turkey Dragoon” – was donated to The Metropolitan Museum Art by George and Butonne Repaire. That donation was achieved largely through the efforts of Wilson, who not only arranged to have the cased revolver sent to the Metropolitan, for review, and possible purchase, but then encouraged the Repaires in what ultimately led to their making an outright donation. At the time, Wilson appraised the revolver for the donors at $4.5 million. The Repaires felt the cased set was too important to belong in a private collection. Stuart W. Pyhrr, the Metropolitan Museum’s Curator of Arms and Armor, was elated.

Awards: “Writer of the Year“ from Leupold & Stevens, and “Shooting Ambassador” from the World Forum on the Future of Sport Shooting Activities

The World Forum presentation took place in Nurmberg, Germany in mid-March 2004 at the foremost international shooting sports annual convention, the IWA (International Waffen und Ammunition) Show. First recipient of the award was the distinguished novelist Wilbur Smith, and the second was World Formula 1 Racing Champion Sir Jackie Stewart. Wilson was the third recipient of this coveted honor.

The Leupold & Stevens award was presented at a gala luncheon during the largest national exposition on the shooting sports and wildlife conservation, the SHOT Show (Shooting and Hunting Outdoor Trade), held in Las Vegas, in February 2004. Wilson was the seventh writer to receive this honor.

Program for Undergraduate or Graduate Level College Seminar – Pursuing a Freelance Career in History and the Arts

Based on a unique career as a museum curator and consultant, as a collector or various interests, as a prolific author of books, monographs and articles in periodicals, as a script writer for documentary films, and as a producer of film documentaries, as an auction house cataloguer and consultant, as an appraiser, as a specialist in authenticating rare firearms and related memorabilia, as a firearms engraving manager and designer of such objects, as a consultant to Tiffany & Co. in their arms engraving program, as a lecturer, as a “talking head” in various video and film documentaries, as a publisher and consultant to authors and publishers, as a museum trustee, as a world traveler specializing in historic sites, museums and related institutions, as a photographer and creator of collages (and protégé of Peter Beard, a master of that genre), as a hobbyist with varied interests, and as one who has experienced virtually every facet of the fine and decorative arts and historical universe, commencing as a boyhood collector, then refined through museum internships and as a student in the liberal arts at Carleton College, and frequent consultant with widespread experience, Wilson has developed a one-week introductory program which presents the myriad spectrum of opportunities in the variety of fields in which he has some 50 years experience, concentrating on material culture.

With slides, videos and other educational aids, Wilson explains the innumerable ins and outs of this challenging and exciting world.

Automobile Racing Enthusiast – and Author

A devoted student of automobile racing, Wilson has attended numerous Formula 1, Indy Car and endurance events including the LeMans 24 Hours, the Grand Prix of Monaco (9 times since 1965) and the Indianapolis 500 - and has visited several museum and private automobile collections throughout Europe and North America. He has participated in such competitions as Italy’s Mille Miglia (1993, ‘94, ‘95, ‘97, ‘98, ’99 and 2000), the Tour de France (1996) and the American U.S. Express, popularly known as the “Cannonball” (1983). He is a graduate of the three-day single-seater race car course and the two-day advanced single-seater course of the Jim Russell Driving School at Laguna Seca, California, and a graduate of the 3-day single-seater course of the Skip Barber School at Bridgehampton, New York.

Since the late 1970s Wilson has been researching a lavishly illustrated book on the North American Racing Team and on the celebrated race driver and Ferrari importer, Luigi Chinetti, and his son, race driver, Ferrari importer and automobile designer, Luigi Chinetti Jr. His lengthy and lavishly illustrated article “The Chinettis and N.A.R.T. Looking over the shoulder of a giant” was featured in the March 2008 the Car Collector. He also authored a special section in Dennis Adler’s Ferrari The Road from Maranello on the Chinettis and their North American Racing Team (Random House, 2006). His initial article on Luigi Chinetti – who introduced Ferrari to the American market, as Enzo Ferrari’s exclusive U.S. and North American agent and distributor – was in Ferrarisima, no. 21 (1994), “When Ferraris Were White and Blue.”

Musical Interests and Experiences

An enthusiastic musician, Wilson was taught the drums (including the rudiments, and reading music) beginning at age 12. He played in high school and college orchestras and marching bands. He continues to practice from time to time, and follows the worlds of jazz, bluegrass, American roots and rhythm and blues music, as his schedule permits. The first concert by a professional musician which he saw was at age 12, Louis Armstrong, at the University of Minnesota concert hall. While employed at the Wadsworth Atheneum, c. 1960-63, he attended many performances at landmark sites such as Birdland and the Metropole, of jazz classics the likes of Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Buddy Rich, and countless others.

Among the rock, bluegrass and rhythm and blues performers he has seen in live performances have been Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Janis Joplin, The Who, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Jerry Lee Lewis, Linda Ronstadt, Pink Floyd, Robert Plant and Alison Kraus with T. Bone Burnett, Iggy Pop, Blondie, The Pretenders, Steve Winwood, Doc Watson, Porter Wagoner, Dolly Parton, Marty Robbins, Pete Seeger, Willy Nelson, Odetta, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Emmylou Harris, Ralph Stanley, Earl Scruggs, Rambling Jack Elliott, Marcia Ball, Marty Stuart, and James Brown. Wilson is as comfortable at New York’s Metropolitan Opera as he is at The Grand Ole Opry.

A fellow arms collector and admired friend is Rock and Roll Hall of Fame stalwart Steve Cropper, lead guitarist of Booker T & the MGs, co-author (with his discovery) Otis Redding of “Sittin’ by the Dock of the Bay” and rated by Britain’s Mojo magazine as #2 of the 100 greatest rock guitarists of all time (#1: Jimi Hendrix).

A featured sidebar in the Lock, Stock & Smoking Barrel book is about Wilson and a colleague from Christie’s, New York, on a trip to Nashville, at the request of Johnny Cash. The legendary artist wanted to present a Colt firearm and memorabilia from his House of Cash Museum, for The Metropolitan Museum of Art October 1985 fund-raising auction. The result: a rare Colt Texas Paterson revolver, with an array of selected collectibles – including one of Johnny’s Martin guitars, signed and dated, and a signed copy of his book Johnny Cash Man in Black.

Wilson and singer, songwriter (“The Christmas Song”), actor, all-around entertainer Mel Torme were collaborating on a book featuring the Colt Peacemaker revolver. Due to Torme’s stroke, and subsequent death, the project was never completed.

Many figures in jazz and popular music, as well as in the classics, share Wilson’s passion for fine guns. Several of these names have appeared in his books, including Colt An American Legend, The Peacemakers and Steel Canvas The Art of American Arms. The subject will be dealt with in some detail in the forthcoming Lock, Stock & Smoking Barrel.

A passion throughout Wilson’s life has been to connect the magical world of firearms and the shooting sports, to innumerable other human interests, hobbies, sports, and captivating cultural themes and subjects.