>>or it went back into the desk drawer and
>>was subsequently destroyed, along with the desk, when the storage
>>facility they'd stashed most of their possessions in while living in
>>Australia burned down. (He worked for Standard Oil and they kept
>>moving him around.)
>
>Aw, bad end!

Yeah, it's a shame. An awful lot of my mother's stories about her childhood end with "... and I'd show you $ITEM, but it was lost in the warehouse fire."

Since you mentioned a lady with a Mauser brought back from the First World War, though, one of the few exceptions is a beautiful old Dutch, or possibly Belgian, wall clock that my great-grandfather bought while he was Over There. I think it escaped the fire because it was still in his possession at that point.