You are right, there are all kinds of model 70's out there that are not listed in books. Authentic or not, that model 70 405 was one very fine finished rifle, just as good as any pre war deluxe model 70's I ever saw. I could not afford anything like it, but it would warm the cockles of my heart to own it.
As for TR's Winchester model 95 405 I can only imagine its value. The double rifle he used on his first African Safari was stolen a couple of years ago, but I believe now recovered. It was valued by the National Park Service at over $300,000. If you ever visit Ford's Theater in Wash. DC they have on display there the derringer used by John Wilkes Booth to kill A. Lincoln. That was valued at $500,000. The values are informal and assigned by the shop where such firearms are "stabilized" as they call it, never restored. The shop is located in Harpers Ferry, Virginia. A lot of people dont know that the Nat. Park Service has custody of some of the most valuable historic firearms in the county.
Sometimes they dont even know what they have. At a small remote park in Northern Ca. I came across, in the park gun locker, three Garands, serial nos 575, 576, and 577 in nearly perfect, perhaps even unfired condition. but thats another story. Many park service firearms were surplus from other agencies like the post office or coast guard issued to parks during the WW2 era and later, in many cases dutifully cared for but never used. Most rangers were not gun nuts but wildlife hobbyists. I have seen unfired colt commando revolvers, Singer 45 autos with consecutive serial numbers, ( they were green parkerized) five of them unfired in a gun locker in Death Valley. Been there almost 40 years when I found them in 1979. I could make you weep.
