Police Discover Extremely Rare WWII Rifle At Gun Buy-Back Program

Sometimes it's pretty amazing what you can find when you clean out your closet.

In Connecticut, a woman had intended to give an old gun she found in her closet to a police gun buy-back program. However, she was quite surprised to learn that her "old gun" was actually a very rare World War II relic.

Just like a scene out of "Antiques Roadshow," a woman in Hartford, Conn., turned in an old rifle to her local police station's gun buy-back, only to discover the gun was worth anywhere from $20,000 to $25,000. The woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, inherited the gun from her father who had brought it home with him from Europe as a memento from World War II.

The two officers conducting the gun buy-back, who are resident gun experts for the Hartford Police Department, informed the owner she was in possession of a Nazi Assault Rifle, the first of its kind, that dates back to 1944.

The gun is called a Sturmgewehr 44, literally meaning "storm rifle," and is the first "modern assault rifle ever made, eventually replaced by the AK 47 in 1947 by Russia, who copied the German design of the Sturmgewehr 44," Officer Lewis Crabtree, one of the two officers who discovered the gun, told ABC News.

"It's like finding the Babe Ruth of baseball cards," said Officer John Cavanna. "The rarity, it was made for such a very short period."

The Strumgewehr 44 is estimated to be worth anywhere between 20,000 to 25,000 dollars. The officers added that since the buy-back program would require them to melt down the gun, they did not accept the antique gun. So good on the officers for recognizing the value of that firearm.