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 Model
M .380 serial number 94016 with rare Factory Lanyard Loop -
This gun was owned by Archie Cecil Barnes, the
overseas representative for Tidewater Oil Company,
(now Arco) whose territory included all of the Middle East.
The gun was purchased by him in Shanghai, China in the early
1930's. Most of the .380s encountered with lanyard loops
were produced for the
Shanghai Municipal
Police (SMP) contract and are in extremely poor
condition. This gun is a standard commercial variation in
98% original condition and is complete with the original box
numbered to gun, instruction sheet, proper ammunition
pamphlet, shooting suggestions, hang tag and two extra
two-tone magazines.Colt factory letter indicates that
this pistol was one of 114 shipped July 30, 1926 to the
China and Japan Trading Company, New York, New York (see
history of this firm below). The letter also indicates
the following special feature: Furnished with a lanyard
loop on the left side of the receiver.
History of the China and Japan Trading Company - On
December 27, 1817, just before Maine became a separate state
from Massachusetts, William Hayes Fogg was born on a
Berwick farm. The youngest of ten children, William Fogg
left school at 14 to clerk in a country store. He failed at
his first business venture, but at age 30 joined his brother
to create the Fogg Brothers of Boston, a shipping company in
the China trade.In 1842, at the close of the Opium War,
the Treaty of Nanking had opened trade in five Chinese
ports, principally Shanghai, and Hong Kong became a British
colony. Then came the California gold rush. Then Tokugawa
Japan's closed society opened with Matthew Perry's voyage in
1853. Trade in the oriental market suddenly flourished;
clipper ships raced the globe with cargoes of tea and silk.
And the Fogg brothers were there. Within five years of
starting their business, the Foggs transferred their base to
Manhattan and, after his brother's death, William began to
lead, at age 38, the firm that would eventually be known as
the China and Japan Trading Company.
Over the next 30 years his wealth grew as did his
position in New York society. At his death in 1884 his
personal fortune was valued at over $1.5 million. Besides
New York City, the trading company had branches in Shanghai,
Yokohama, Osaka, London, and San Francisco.
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