Oswald’s Seaport Trader Order Coupon Mystery Solved

[Tim Nickerson]

Uh...big deal? Here's a guy with two kids, he's reminding his wife while in custody to buy his daughter some shoes, and he goes out and spends the equivalent of $250 in today's dollars to buy this gun? When he's making a buck-90 at his job? Uh huh.

Oswald spent the equivalent of $169 in todays dollars, not $250.

[Bill Chapman]

$159.20
https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1963?amount=19

[Michael Walton]

The ad and coupon showed it cost $29.95 which is about $250 to use your page.

[Gerry Down]

If the pistol cost $30, and he was making about $50 a week (actually probably slightly more than this), than the pistol was not that extravagant a purchase at all.

Oswald made $43 in his last week at the TSBD and only worked 4 days:
https://www.tmz.com/2020/01/27/lee-harvey-oswald-last-paycheck-uncashed-death-auction/

[Tim Nickerson]

The ad and coupon showed it cost $29.95 which is about $250 to use your page.

Sorry, I was thinking of the $20 that he spent on his rifle. You are correct.

You're wrong about Dale Myers though.

[Jerry Freeman]

Didn't solve everything for me. According to the timeline---Oswald picked up the weapons.... both on the same day the month before the issue containing the [revolver] ad was even circulated. How did that happen?

Fig.8 - Page 13 of the April 1963 issue (Vol.32, No.3) of True Adventures magazine.

January 28, 1962: LHO orders a .38 caliber Smith and Wesson revolver by mail.
March 12, 1963: Ruth Paine visits Marina at the new apartment. Also that day, LHO orders a rifle from Klein's Sporting Goods in Chicago.
March 20, 1963: The rifle and the revolver are shipped.
March 25, 1963: LHO picks up the weapons.

 
The January '62 date appears to be a bogus date that has never been corrected.
The date on the ad is illegible...though A J Hidell appears to be 28 yo.
Looks like a bunch of fabricated crap to me.

[Tim Nickerson]

Didn't solve everything for me. According to the timeline---Oswald picked up the weapons.... both on the same day the month before the issue containing the [revolver] ad was even circulated. How did that happen?  
The January '62 date appears to be a bogus date that has never been corrected.
The date on the ad is illegible...though A J Hidell appears to be 28 yo.
Looks like a bunch of fabricated crap to me.

"One might question how Oswald was able to use a mail-order coupon from the April 1963 issue of True Adventures magazine in mid-March. The answer is simple: most monthly magazines hit newsstands the month prior to the dated publication.

In fact, Chris Simondet was able to determine from the Library of Congress Catalog of Copyright Entries that the February through June 1963 issues of True Adventures magazine were copyrighted long before publication. [19] Here’s what he found:

True Adventures © New Publications, Inc.

Vol. 32, No.2, February 1963 © 4 Dec 1962; B16344
Vol. 32, No.3, April 1963 © 5 Feb 1963; B23227
Vol.32, No.4, June 1963 © 4 April 1963; B32224

The above listing shows that the content of the April 1963 issue had already been locked by February 5, 1963; and therefore, could easily have been printed and on store shelves by mid-March."

https://jfkfiles.blogspot.com/2020/06/solving-mystery-of-oswalds-seaport.html?fbclid=IwAR0ET99izrUtysA8KPvi_sSVnBY5MobXJMyl8YvA7EIeR-21Il6J0xKvBNc

[Jerry Freeman]

One might question how Oswald was able to use a mail-order coupon from the April 1963 issue of True Adventures magazine in mid-March. The answer is simple: most monthly magazines hit newsstands the month prior to the dated publication.

I am aware of that...and read that too in the article but finish it up and try using quotes next time----

The above listing shows that the content of the April 1963 issue had already been locked by February 5, 1963; and therefore, could easily have been printed and on store shelves by mid-March.

OK the magic magazine theory.

Why Oswald used a date of ‘1/27 (no year)’ for the order is puzzling. Perhaps, he hoped to rush the order by back-dating the coupon. Whatever the reason, we now know that the coupon he used came from an issue that had only become available to him at about the time he mailed the order – mid-March, 1963.

The assumption is still basically unclear. Similar ads were determined to have run in various other issues of various other magazines. Why not have torn out one of those [if he was hot for a gun]?

Perhaps, he hoped to rush the order by back-dating the coupon

Speculation to the max. But as long as it supports your view huh?

Mystery solved-- So, now we know for certain that Oswald purchased the Mannlicher-Carcano rifle and the Smith & Wesson revolver at about the same time – probably the same day. The rifle was ordered on March 12, 1963 (as evidenced by the money-order that was purchased that date and which Oswald included with the order coupon). Klein’s Sporting Goods received the rifle order in the mail the next day, March 13, 1963. Seaport Traders also received Oswald’s mail-order for the .38 caliber revolver on March 13, 1963 – a very strong suggestion that Oswald mailed both orders the previous day – March 12.

And I guess we know for certain that he picked up the weapons on the same exact day. Yeah it fits...it just has to