This rare pre-war M49 carbine was manufactured by the Iranian State factory and presented as a gift in 1953 by the Iranian Military to Commander Eric Pollard. This carbine and its history is intriguing in that there are accompanying documents which indicate that as the Naval Attache, Commander Eric Pollard, probably worked for the C.I.A. at that time at the Embassy and later also served as a "Special Assistant For Counterinsurgency and Special Activities" at the Embassy. There was heavy involvement at this time assisting the British in the actual overthrow (coup d'e'tat) of the democratically elected, then Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, and the reestablishment or appointment of General Fazlollah Zahedi as the new Primer Minister of Iran. The consignor also states that Commander Pollard also accompanied the Shah of Iran to Switzerland while this overthrow was taking place to help mask his knowledge of this action. Accompanying this rifle is a telex (dated 5 Sept 1953) from General Zahedi to the U.S. Ambassador of Iran in which the General wishes to "Expresses his gratitude for the praiseworthy attitude and efforts (of Commander Pollard) to strengthen the friendly relations between Iran and the U.S." All this took place while under the pro-Western regime of the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah (King) of Iran in power in 1979 when he was overthrown by the fundamentalist Muslim group of Clerics headed by Ayatollah Khomeini. Certainly a very unique one-of-a-kind carbine and also a very significant Cold War historical carbine. These carbines are fairly rare in their own right with this one being even more rare/desirable in that it has a small silver plaque attached to the right side of the buttstock attesting to it being presented to Commander Pollard. This carbine is accompanied by a translation of the silver plaque that reads, "Gift of Iranian Imperial Military/Honorable Colonel Commander Arpek Polaro, Naval Attache of the Embassy of American Country in Iran/Tehran 1953/28189". The top of the receiver is marked with the large Persian Crest and the left side of the receiver markings (serial number and factory name) are all in Farsi. It has the large military tangent rear sight graduated to 2,000 meters with the milled trigger guard and barrel bands. These carbines have two unique features: one is the top handguard that extends from the receiver ring to the front barrel band and the other is an integral set of front sight protectors. The stock and handguard are both the correct beech wood and the right side of the buttstock has the matching Farsi numbers. It is complete with an original cleaning rod under the barrel. This carbine has been given a high polished blue finish overall with a highly polished hardwood stock and handguard, and original sling with bright polished barrel bands and complete bolt assembly.