Oswald's Interest in Mail-Order

Tracking Oswald's preferences in Mail-Order back to 1959

Mershon Company Ad for Walnut Custom Pistol Grips

Background

There are interesting items still out there left to explore and research about Lee Harvey Oswald's life. Unfortunately, there are only just a handful of researchers willing to hunt/find more tidbits about the assassin of President Kennedy. Here is one particular piece of evidence overlooked by many, surprisingly even the FBI documentation online does not provide the full picture. This evidence relates to a clipping of a Mershon Company ad found in Oswald's possessions.

FBI's investigation of the Mershon clipping

When the FBI lab examined Oswald's .38 Smith-Wesson revolver they inspected all serial numbers stamped. The serial number of this weapon is V510210, the assembly number is 65248 and these numbers appear in all the usual places indicating that all major parts of this weapon, except for the grips, are original. It is pointed out that the inside of the right grip bears the number 74149. The number on the grip usually will correspond with the number serial of the weapon. One example of on where the assembly number was stamped was on the crane of the revolver.1 https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=57689#relPageId=143&search=Grips

Oswald's Revolver

If you notice the smooth walnut grips on the revolver are worn, scratched and not new. This suggests the grips, were most likely replaced from another Smith-Wesson Victory model revolver from either the weapon wholesaler, or in England where it originated from.

While examining Oswald's personal effects, the FBI discovered an ad (clipping) from the Mershon company based out of Los Angeles for custom pistol grips. This piqued curiosity from the Dallas FBI, which prompted a local Los Angeles agent William McCauley to investigate whether or not Oswald had ordered any pistol grips or had done business with Oswald in the past. A check of the business records from 1958-1959 yielded negative results on "Oswald".

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=10673#relPageId=45&search=Mershon

The most interesting part of this ad was a handwritten note at the bottom of the Mershon ad, "October 1959". Also, on the Mershon ad was "Dept. GA-10". The FBI did not know what publication the Mershon ad came from and noted that Oswald was on his way to Russia in October 1959. It appeared that the FBI thought it was of no significance and seemed to drop it all together.

Research reveals something significant

Along with my co-researcher, Chris Simondent, we looked into this a few years ago. Having worked on the original Seaport Traders ad where Chris discovered the original magazine publication, we had gained some good working experience with these "Dept." notations on mail-order coupons.

Here's the story behind that discovery. https://jfkfiles.blogspot.com/2020/06/solving-mystery-of-oswalds-seaport.html

Taking the "Dept. GA-10" in account, we began working on it. We knew generally, not just from the Seaport Traders revolver discovery, that the "Dept." designation often referred to the publication. The "GA" we eventually settled on was probably the Guns & Ammo magazine. The "10" was the month of the issue. In this case the October 1959 Guns & Ammo edition was our best guess to find this actual Mershon ad. So, we both bought that issue for ourselves. Mine came out of the UK, and Chris' came out of Canada.

I believe mine came first in the mail.

I guess blind luck pays off every once in a while. The Mershon ad was in that issue. It is pictured above below the title of this article. Here is the actual enlarged view.

It was located on the left bottom corner of page 14 in the issue. But the previous page 13 had something interesting.

The Mershon Coupon on page 14 is in alignment with the Seaport Traders coupon on page 13. How and why the FBI missed this, remains a mystery.

Conclusion

As the FBI confirmed, the Mershon ad by itself was of no significance. It was the back of the Mershon ad that should have drawn attention. Moreover, it was in 1959 and Oswald was discharged from the Marines on September 11, 1959. Where he got a copy of the Guns & Ammo magazine remains a mystery as well. Magazines often were out on the newsstands and subscriptions one month earlier. So, he could have got it in September 1959. Or maybe he got it from his brother Robert while he came home from the Marines. There are endless possibilities with no definitive answers.

As a note, there is a .22 over/under Derringer featured. Was Oswald considering buying one and never acted on it for his trip to Russia? Oswald was court martialed for shooting himself with a .22 Derringer on October 27, 1957, and cited for not registering his weapon. Most likely it was confiscated by the Marines.

Somebody wrote "October 1959" on it and it makes sense that it was written on the back of the Seaport coupon. Unfortunately, there's no copy of this Mershon ad online, unless it is in the National Archives.

The one conclusion that can be drawn, Oswald was considering using mail-order back in 1959. Also, he was aware of Seaport Traders whom eventually he bought his murder revolver from. He had a strange habit of hanging onto mail-order coupons. Authorities found two blank Klein's coupons in his possessions. One of those was identified by long-time researcher Paul Hoch as coming from Alba's Garage in New Orleans.

Link to Paul Hoch's discovery. https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=4254#relPageId=31

1 - The crane is the supporting arm on the cylinder when it is pushed opened to remove spent shells.