Some day, we will again travel and sight-see.

I can't help but run across occasional items, that I would like to see in person .... things that you see in books or on the internet. My list is getting long.

I'm not going to fly across the country or make a special trip, but, if I was in the neighborhood, I'd stop to see:

The Pope-barreled (.30-40) Krag at the NRA Museum in Va. and the "Intelligent Whale" (CW submarine) at the N.J.N.G. - Museum at Sea Girt.

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You think they would let you examine the barrel with a bore scope on the Pope Stevens Krag?

no

Every once in a while when on one of these excursions you bump into an unexpected gem. Although not gun or military related, this is one of those. In 2016 I took my grandson to the St Johnsbury(VT) Anthenaeum which is a combination public library and art museum built and donated by the Fairbanks Industrial Scale Co family back in the late 1800's. The cornerstone of the museum is the 10ft x 15ft "Domes of Yosemite" painted by Albert Bierstadt in 1867.  It was commissioned by the original owner for $25,000 which was an amazing amount at that time and bought at auction after the owner's death by Horace Fairbanks for $5,100 which was still a lot of dough back then.

The detail of this painting is amazing.  And in late 2017 the painting was removed from its frame, rolled into a cardboard tube and driven to Miami for a year of restoration, repair and reinforcement and colors and detail not seen for generations were brought out from those efforts.

These are pre-restoration pictures from that first visit.   

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Whig wrote on May 13^th, 2020 at 3:56pm:

no

If looksies with a bore scope are out, slugging the barrel would probably be out also? :-)

Bierstadt - an absolute MASTER of light, IMHO without peer in his genre.